Holdings

The Collection starts with the materic abstraction of the fifties and follows the evolution of European pop, the avant-gardes of the sixties and seventies, the centrality of the word and poetic experience and the return of photographic figurative representation, and anti-minimalist sculpture in the eighties, before reaching today’s younger artists. It brings together works by Catalan, Spanish and international artists, particularly from South America and Eastern Europe, and has more recently started to include works by artists from North Africa, the Middle East and the Arab world.

The bulk of the works come from the institutions that comprise the MACBA Consortium, including Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia, but also from donations, loans and deposit agreements from other entities such as the Diputació de Barcelona and individuals. One of the key elements is the Fundació MACBA, which was created in 1987 and has been a founding member of the Museum since 1995, and which has a specific mission to expand its collection. Since it was created in 2007, the MACBA Study Centre also carries out complementary aspects of the task of collecting.

While MACBA initially began with a collection based on these independent holdings with their own specific characteristics (Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia and Fundació MACBA), the last few years have been crucial for endowing the MACBA Collection with a distinctive personality and identifying proposals and hypotheses for future growth. These hypotheses have drawn inspiration from the temporary exhibition programmes that have been held over the years. Some of these exhibitions have defined what has now become an authentic culture of art, and has in fact become established as a tradition.

We invite you to explore the holdings of the MACBA Collection through a series of search filters. You can use the 'Advanced Search' function to access recent acquisitions, artistic genres, works currently on display and works on loan.