Dfyjkt

National Gallery in Prague

Národní galerie v Praze
Veletržní palác houses the largest collection of National Gallery art
Established	February 5, 1796 (1796-02-05)
Location	Prague
Type	Art museum
Director	Jiří Fajt
Curator	Adam Budak
Public transit access	Tram stop: Veletržní palác C Vltavská Praha–Bubny
Website	http://www.ngprague.cz/en/

The National Gallery in Prague (Czech: Národní galerie v Praze) is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic. The collections of the gallery are not housed in a single building, but are presented in a number of historic structures within the city of Prague, as well as other places. The largest of the gallery sites is the Veletržní Palác, which houses the National Gallery's collection of modern art. It is one the largest museums in Central Europe.

History

Šternberk Palace at Hradčany

Hall in Veletržní palác

The history of the National Gallery dates back to the end of the 18th century (namely February 5, 1796^[1]), when a group of prominent representatives of Bohemia patriotic aristocracy (Kolowrat, Sternberg, Nostitz) and middle-class intellectuals decided to elevate what they called the "debased artistic taste" of the local population. The institution, which received the title Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts, established the Academy of Fine Arts and the Picture Gallery. In 1918 the Picture Gallery became a central collection of newly formed Czechoslovakia.

In 1995 a new gallery dedicated to modern art opened in the refurbished Veletržní Palác (Trade-fair Palace). It is one of the first and largest functionalism building in Prague, built in 1925-1928.

St. George's Convent (Hradčany) was formerly used to display Art of the Middle Ages in Bohemia and Central Europe, Baroque art, and 19th-century art of Bohemia.

The collection

František Kupka, Fugue in Two Colors, 1912

Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic, 1912

The international collection includes numerous works by artists such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Rodin, Gauguin, Cézanne, Renoir, Schiele, Munch, Miró and Klimt; many of these are donations from the collection of art historian Vincenc Kramář.

Picasso, who has a spacious room to himself in the gallery, has two self-portraits there, and two of his nudes in addition to more abstract work. Works by Rodin, whose exhibition in Prague in the early 20th century had a profound impact on Czech sculpture for many years afterwards, include a series of busts and full-sized figure on a variety of subjects in the gallery.

The vast collection contains a large number of Czech and Slovak paintings and sculptures, including works by Alfons Mucha, Otto Gutfreund, František Kupka, T. F. Simon, Tavik Frantisek Simon (1877-1942), Rudolf Fila, Vincenc Beneš and Bohumil Kubišta. Along with the Black Madonna House and the Museum Kampa, the Trade fair palace collection is one of the most notable collections of Czech Cubism in Prague. Notable works include Don Quixote by Gutfreund, Military Funeral by Beneš, an array of paintings by Kupka, covering almost all of the styles with which he experimented and the Slav Epic, a cycle of 20 large canvases by Mucha.

Structure

Old Masters:

• Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia (Old Town) - Art of the Middle Ages in Bohemia and Central Europe


• Šternberk Palace (Hradčany) - European Art from Antiquity to the end of the Baroque period


• Schwarzenberg palace (Hradčany) - Baroque in Bohemia

19th Century Art:

• Salm Palace (Hradčany)

Modern and Contemporary Art:

• Veletržní palác (English: Trade Fair Palace, Holešovice) - 19th-, 20th- and 21st-century art. It houses the largest collection of National Gallery art. Since 2012 The Slav Epic has been on display here.


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  House of the Black Madonna (Old Town) - Czech Cubism

Oriental Art:

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  Kinský Palace (Old Town) - Art of Asia and Art of the Ancient World

Collections displayed outside Prague:

• Kinský castle Žďár nad Sázavou - Baroque Art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague


• 
  Fryštát castle - 19th-century Czech art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague

Gallery

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  Portrait of a Young Lady from Egypt, 2nd century AD
  

  
  

  
  


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  Madonna of Zbraslav, 1340–1350
  

  
  

  
  


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  Vyšší Brod Altarpiece, 1345–1350
  

  
  

  
  


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  Votive Panel of Jan Očko of Vlašim, 1370
  

  
  

  
  


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  Třeboň Altarpiece, 1380–1390
  

  
  

  
  


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  Feast of the Rosary, Albrecht Dürer, 1506
  

  
  

  
  


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  Adam and Eve, Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1538
  

  
  

  
  


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  Epitaph of Goldsmith Nicolas Müller of Prague, Bartholomaeus Spranger, 1592–1593
  

  
  

  
  


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  Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Peter Paul Rubens, 1620
  

  
  

  
  


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  Scholar at his Study, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634
  

  
  

  
  


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  Portrait of the gem-cutter Dionysio Miseroni and his family, Karel Škréta, 1653
  

  
  

  
  


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  Simeon with Infant Jesus, Petr Brandl, 1725
  

  
  

  
  


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  Josephine, Josef Mánes, 1855
  

  
  

  
  


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  Lovers, Auguste Renoir, 1875
  

  
  

  
  


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  Green Wheat Field with Cypress, Vincent van Gogh, 1889
  

  
  

  
  


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  Self-portrait, Henri Rousseau, 1890
  

  
  

  
  


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  Murder in the House, Jakub Schikaneder, 1890
  

  
  

  
  


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  Evening Street, Jakub Schikaneder, 1906
  

  
  

  
  


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  Souvenir of Le Havre, Pablo Picasso, 1912
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Maiden, Gustav Klimt, 1913
  

  
  

  
  

See also

• List of museums in Prague

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Národní galerie v Praze.

• Official website

Coordinates: 50°06′04″N 14°25′57″E / 50.1011111°N 14.4325°E / 50.1011111; 14.4325