The Story of the Kunsthalle Praha Art Collection

A living story of art in Central Europe and beyond

The Kunsthalle Praha Collection is a living and continuously evolving body of works, now comprising more than 2,000 art pieces. It focuses on key artistic expressions and tendencies of the 20th and 21st centuries in Central Europe, viewed within broader international contexts.

The Kunsthalle Praha Collection can be understood as a living and changing organism. It emerges within a clearly defined framework, yet it continually develops and responds to new impulses. Its aim is to map significant themes and historical chapters of the local art scene, complemented by selected examples from a wider regional and international context.

The basis of the collection lies in the collection of The Pudil Family Foundation, established by Pavlína and Petr Pudil, which have been long-term loaned to Kunsthalle Praha. With the establishment of Kunsthalle Praha, their originally private collecting activities transformed into a model of collecting based not only on acquisitions but also on partnerships and long-term loans. The institutional framework has naturally brought further associated activities, including research, conservation, interpretation and presentation. In this way, the collection becomes an active instrument of dialogue with both the art scene and the wider public.

The Kunsthalle Praha Collection is both a memory and one of the pillars of the institution’s identity. It anchors its relationship to the local cultural environment as well as to its own story and values. Although it is not presented on permanent display, it is far from inward-looking. It develops in close relationship with the exhibition programme, the two strands of the institution’s activities are autonomous yet coexist in mutual dialogue. The collection thus serves as a platform for understanding the cultural history of the region, reflecting on the present, supporting curatorial projects and educational programmes, and enabling international exchange through loans of artworks.

The Story of Modernism: Between Local Roots and a Global Vision

Pre-war and interwar modernism is represented in the collection through examples of Cubism, Artificialism and Surrealism. These works testify to the search for a distinct Central European artistic identity as well as to its cosmopolitanism and connections to other artistic centres. The works of Toyen, Jindřich Štyrský, Josef Šíma, Emil Filla, Bohumil Kubišta and Georg Kars present modernism as a space of freedom, experimentation and creative courage, fully comparable with the international avant-garde.

The international context is further enriched by works by artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Kurt Schwitters, Max Ernst and Endre Nemes.

Post-war Tendencies: Art as Resistance, Experiment and Experience

Post-war art within the collection is explored with particular focus on the 1960s and 1970s. Attention is directed especially towards Central Europe and artists working in countries behind the Iron Curtain, who shared similar starting points and experiences (for example Imre Bak, Dóra Maurer, Ferenc Ficzek, Tomislav Gotovac, Julije Knifer and Julius Koller).

The collection includes artworks with tendencies of neo-constructivism, conceptual art and action art, understood not merely as stylistic movements but also as modes of thinking and responses to social reality. Works by artists such as Hugo Demartini, Milan Grygar, Milan Knížák, Jiří Kolář, Stanislav Kolíbal, Jiří Kovanda and Zdeněk Sýkora often reflect existential experience and the search for alternative forms of freedom.

A significant role is also played by women artists whose works emphasise intimacy, process and unconventional materials. The practices of Běla Kolářová, Zorka Ságlová and Adriena Šimotová anticipate feminist thought while resonating with international tendencies of their time, represented by artists such as Agnes Denes, Kiki Kogelnik and Louise Nevelson.

In 2020, this area was substantially expanded by the Fluxus Collection of Marie and Milan Knížák. It documents Milan Knížák’s personal and artistic connections to the international Fluxus network (including Ken Friedman, Allan Kaprow, Shigeko Kubota, Yoko Ono and Ben Vautier) and demonstrates a shift in the understanding of the artwork towards experiment, intermedia forms and an emphasis on the idea rather than the material object. The mapping of connections — as well as distinctions — between East and West is further supported by the inclusion of artists such as Pol Bury, Hans Hartung, Heinz Mack, Frank Joseph Malina, Georges Mathieu, Otto Piene and Peter Weibel.

The Plurality of the Present: Art in the Face of a Changing World

The contemporary part of the collection reflects transformations of identity within the context of postmodern thought and the growing diversity of artistic forms. Central themes include the relationships between the local and the global, the personal and the universal, as well as questions of memory and fiction.

Across the works of Czech and international artists alike, the collection traces engagements with memory, history and the uncertainties of today’s world. Artists such as Zbyněk Baladrán, Christian Boltanski, Tacita Dean, Klára Hosnedlová, Zhanna Kadyrova, William Kentridge, Anna Hulačová, Ján Mančuška and Roman Ondak, among many others, offer diverse perspectives on contemporary reality and its social, environmental, political and gender dimensions.