Baku Museum of Modern Art ( az, Bakı müasir incəsənət muzeyi) is a museum of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

located in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan.

History

The museum was built at the initiative of the

First Lady of Azerbaijan First Lady of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycanın birinci xanımı) is the informal title of the wife of the president of Azerbaijan. The current first lady is Mehriban Aliyeva, wife of President Ilham Aliyev, who has held the position since 31 Octobe ...

, Mehriban Aliyeva and opened on 20 March 2009. It was funded by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, of which the First Lady is head. The foundation has also created projects with the Louvre Museum and the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

. The museum is intended as a focus for an "eco-cultural zone" conceived of by

Thomas Krens Thomas Krens (born December 26, 1946) is the former director and Senior Advisor for International Affairs of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York City.''The New York Times'' staff.Guggenheim Foundation staff From the beginning of his w ...

, former director of the Guggenheim Foundation, that will also include a white-sand beach, a

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

skyscraper, and a walkway that projects out over the Caspian Sea. The museum does not have fixed subject areas. The architectural concept of the museum avoids halls with corners and has open passages and walls that meet at different angles, creating a multidimensional perspective of exhibits. Conspicuous metallic structures and the use of the color white unite all parts into a single "moving abstract structure." The chief designer of the museum is the artist Altay Sadikh-zadeh; the architect of the building is Jean Nouvel.

Displays

The museum focuses on the second half of the twentieth century and contains over 800 works by notable Azerbaijani painters and sculptors, particularly

avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical De ...

art of the 1960s and 1970s, including Rasim Babayev, Ashraf Murad, Gennady Brejatjuk, Fazil Najafov, Mamed Mustafaev, Aga Houssejnov, Ali Ibadullaev, Mir-Nadir Zeynalov,

Fuad Salayev Fuad Salayev is an Azerbaijani sculptor. He was born in 1943. He graduated from Azerbaijan State Art School named after A. Azimzade and he goes on to Moscow and graduated from Surikov Moscow Art Institute. He was involved in many exhibitions of ...

, Farhad Halilov, Darvin Velibekov, Eldar Mammadov, Mikail Abdurahmanov, Museib Amirov, Mahmud Rustamov,

Huseyn Hagverdiyev Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", ...

, Eliyar Alimirzayev, Nazim Rahmanov, Rashad Babayev and Altay Sadikh-zadeh. There are also non-Azerbaijani modern masterworks by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

from private collectors. Exhibitions of Azerbaijani photographers such as Elnur Babayev, Fakhriya Mammadova, Ilkin Huseynov, Rena Efendi, Sergei Khrustalev, Sitara Ibrahimova, Tahmina Mammadova are often held in the museum. The museum includes a children's fine arts department, a video hall, a cafe, a restaurant, a separate hall for private exhibitions, a library, and a bookstore with materials pertaining to world art, architecture and sculpture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baku Museum of Modern Art Art galleries established in 2009 Art museums in Baku Art museums established in 2009 2009 establishments in Azerbaijan Jean Nouvel buildings

History

Displays

See also

References