IstanbulArt Guide

Istanbul Modern is Türkiye’s first private museum of modern and contemporary art and was opened in 2004. Istanbul Modern places emphasis on artists from the region, including Hoca Ali Rıza, Nurullah Berk, Nedim Günsür, Omer Uluç, and Canan Tolon, amongst others. The museum’s permanent collection also houses works by renowned international artists such as Adrián Villar Rojas and Olafur Eliasson. Past exhibitions range from a retrospective on Erol Akyavaş to a group exhibition on love and politics featuring Alessandro Pessoli, Hiraki Sawa, Boyd Webb, and Saskia Olde Wolbers. In addition to the permanent collection and temporary exhibition spaces, there is also a photography gallery, video area, library, and cinema.

Salt Beyoğlu is a research-informed museum of modern art known for its programming and exhibitions. The museum has another location in Istanbul called Salt Galata, dedicated to workshops, research, exhibitions, and conferences. Focused on visual and material culture, Salt Beyoğlu’s exhibitions have included research-based, Eurasia-focused collective Slavs and Tatars’ first mid-career survey.

An 8-minute drive from Salt Beyoğlu is Arter, a not-for-profit contemporary art space that was inaugurated in 2010 with Starter, an ambitious exhibition featuring more than 160 works by 87 artists.

For older works visit the Pera Museum’s permanent collection, which consists of four sections: Orientalist paintings, Anatolian weights and measures, Kütahya tiles and ceramics, and photography. The impressive photography collection covers the 19th and 20th centuries, with more than 7,000 photographs of the city. Pera’s exhibits feature artists like Rembrandt, Joan Miró, Akira Kurosawa, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Frida Kahlo.

For more local and international historical paintings, check out the National Palaces Painting Museum, which showcases pieces from the palace’s collection. For even older works that date further back, visit The Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, now known as the Chora Museum. Previously a mediaeval Byzantine Greek Orthodox church, it was turned into a mosque in the 15th century and a museum in 1945. It has preserved many of its mosaics, which mostly date between 1077 and 1081, and provides a satisfying timeline of the history of the arts in Istanbul.