Istanbul’s painting museum set to open after 10 years

ISTANBUL

The Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum is set to open its doors today in its new building after a 10-year hiatus.

Moved to Antrepo No 5 in the Tophane quarter due to the restoration at a section in the Dolmabahçe Palace in 2012, will host art lovers again in a new location at Istanbul’s Galataport 10 years later.

Established in 1937 by orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, in a bid to preserve and share the main works of Turkish modern art with the public, the museum served for many years in the Dolmabahçe Palace as an affiliated institution of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.

A total of 13,000 items in the inventory of the museum, which includes the works of many valuable painters such as Osman Hamdi Bey, Şeker Ahmet Paşa and Avni Lifji, will be exhibited in the area designed with the latest technology.

The first retrospective exhibition of the museum is being prepared for Sabri Berkel, a Turkish-Albanian modernist painter who was considered one of the most important painters and academic personalities of the last century.