The Collection

The collection of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art is a unique survey of 20th- and 21st-century modern and contemporary art from the Arab World, the Middle East and wider geographies of Africa, Asia and Europe that are historically connected to Qatar and the Arab Peninsula.

Mathaf is the only museum and collection of its kind in the world. An initial group of works was donated to the public institution by H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani.

Holding several thousand works collected over the past 25 years, it continues to grow and today contains more than 9,000 artworks from the Arab world and other regions that are historically and geographically connected to the Arab Peninsula, such as Iran, Turkey and India. Many of these items are now accessible through Qatar Museums’ new Online Collection platform.

Collection Highlights

Mathaf’s collection represents major trends and sites of production through paintings, sculptures, works on paper, installation and video works, produced since the mid-19th century until the present day. The collection includes key artworks by pioneer Arab artists such as Baghdadiat by Jewad Selim and several works by Mahmoud Moukhtar.

As witnesses of their times, the artists and their works in the collection play active roles in articulating new artistic tendencies and alternative models of society. These interrogate the changes that have taken place in societies and local cultures during the transition to modernity and contemporaneity.

A selection of works from the permanent collection is available via Google Cultural Institute.