The Museum of Art Ein Harod

The Museum of Art Ein Harod was established in the 1930's in a wooden hut in Kibbutz Ein Harod and was one of the first art museums founded in the country.

The museum's permanent building, a complex of galleries and courtyards overlooking the Jezreel Valley, was planned by Samuel Bickels, a Kibbutz member. It was inaugurated in 1948, and was opened during the height of the battle of Independence. It was the first building to be erected as a museum in Israel and only years afterwards were museum buildings in the larger cities built.

The social context

The museum was founded by the kibbutz members themselves during the early period following the founding of the kibbutz, in the belief that culture and art are among the essential components of a society. The museum was built before other essential physical needs of the kibbutz society were met.

Avant-garde Architecture

The museum of Art, Ein Harod is considered to be one of the earliest and prime examples in the world of modernist museum architecture based on natural lighting. The building's architectural qualities are relevant to this day, and were an inspiration, to the architect Renzo Piano in his planning of the De Menil Museum in Houston in the 1980's.

Collections

The Museum has a collection of 16,000 artworks amassed since the early 1930s, and includes a collection of Jewish artifacts dating from the 17th century onwards, paintings and sculptures by artists from the 19th century i.e: Josef Israel's, Isaak Levitan, Lesser Uri, Max Liebermann, Ludwig Meidner, Issachar Ryback, Jules Pascin, Moise Kisling, Jacob Epstein, etc.

The Museum's dynamic exhibition program incorporates works from its collection in temporary shows.

The exhibition policy combines critical research of the past and of the present confronting the challenges of a complex and constantly changing environment.

The Museum has ongoing retrospective solo exhibitions and thematic group shows. It also serves as a meeting place for various groups from diverse social strata, local, regional (both Arab and Jewish), and for publics from all over Israel.

The exhibitions constitute a point of departure for symposiums, workshops, and activities in the community.

The Museum of Art, Ein Harod produces and publishes exhibition catalogues and research books on the various subjects it engages, providing an invaluable reference source for the subject of Israeli art. In addition the museum publishes scholarly texts on artists featured in its incomparable collection.

Directions:

the Museum is located in Kibbutz Ein Harod, in the north - east of Israel. Take route 71 from Afula to Beit Shean. 12 Km from Afula turn left at traffic light into Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad (note: there is another traffic light where you can turn left into Ein Harod ihud. That's NOT the right turn).

Follow the signs going uphill to the museum.

For additional directions please contact us at +972.4.6485701.

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