Expanding Our Collection: Acquisitions 2013–2025
Prague City Gallery presents the exhibition Expanding Our Collection: Acquisitions 2013–2025. Curated by Magdalena Juříková, it will be on display at GHMP Knihovna from 29 April 2025 to 30 August 2026. The exhibition presents a selection of acquisitions made by Prague City Gallery over the period during which Magdalena Juříková has led the institution.
The exhibition features items from the gallery’s collection, which was significantly expanded between 2013 and 2025, when GHMP acquired 2,366 works of art, compared to just 375 works during the previous comparable period (2000–2012). This is not a balanced overview with equal representation of all periods and genres covered by the gallery; it is more or less a subjective selection made by Magdalena Juříková, the retiring director of GHMP. She has focused not only on masterpieces but also on smaller and less spectacular examples of the rich “flora” that has blossomed in the gallery over the years – unfortunately, until now largely confined to the seclusion of the gallery’s storage facilities. That is why Prague City Gallery regularly presents exhibitions that introduce the public to the progress of its efforts to expand the collection strategically and to refine its quality.
“My task was to select, from the perspective of the director, works that represent this period and which, in my opinion, serve as good examples of our collective acquisition strategy. Given that I am now beginning to reflect on my fourteen years at GHMP, I have occasionally allowed myself to incorporate my personal preferences,” says Magdalena Juříková.
The works on display cover a wide range of media: painting, drawing and sculpture, together with photography, video, spatial installations and conceptual art. Alongside established artists from several generations (Jitka Válová, Stanislav Kolíbal, Milan Grygar, Květa Pacovská, Jan Kubíček, Vladimír Škoda, Milena Dopitová, Margita Titlová, Jiří David, Petr Nikl and others), the exhibition also features younger artists (Tadeáš Kotrba, Vasil Artamonov and Alexey Klyuykov, the Podebal group and others).
In recent years, GHMP has consistently focused its acquisition work on segments of art and periods in which it has already achieved a certain level of quality and breadth. These include, in particular, the experimental art of the 1960s and 1970s, the generation of the 1990s, which was systematically tracked through a series of diverse exhibition projects, and the contemporary scene, which the gallery has mapped through the Start Up exhibition series and, in terms of its thematic and genre interests, naturally also across its public programme. Gradually, GHMP has thus succeeded in covering the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter‑century of the new millennium to a degree that, given the significance of these periods, we intend to present them in future as a long‑term, permanently accessible exhibition. We plan to open this exhibition in the renovated Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace.
“Under the leadership of Magdalena Juříková, Prague City Gallery has come a long way over the past fourteen years. As the founding body, we are pleased that, thanks to our long-term and stable financial support, we have managed to expand the collection by a record-breaking number of more than two thousand works, which is an unprecedented shift compared to previous periods. This acquisition strategy is not just about numbers, but above all about the systematic building of Prague’s cultural heritage. I am glad that the city’s investment in the arts is making a difference and that these new acquisitions will soon find a home in the upcoming permanent exhibition at the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace,” adds Tomáš Slabihoudek, City Councilor for Culture, Tourism, National Heritage Protection, Exhibitions Sector and Animal Welfare.
Until then, there are still a few more years available to further expand the collection and refine the details. Thanks to the ongoing support of our founding body, which has provided investment funds for new acquisitions every year since 2013, GHMP can shape its vision for the future permanent exhibition step by step.
Zdeněk Sýkora, Linie No. 39, 1986, oil, canvas, acquired in 2015
Richard Konvička, Goodbye New York, 1991, oil, acrylic, canvas, acquired in 2024
Ivan Kafka, From Nowhere to Nowhere, 1992–1993, mixed media, wood, acquired in 2016
Mária Bartuszová, Untitled: Heads – Double Egg, 1964, casting, plaster, concrete, acquired in 2024
Jiří Thýn, Space, Abstraction 5, 2011, black-and-white photograph, paper, acquired in 2015
Stanislav Kolíbal, Next Time, 1975, mixed media, wood, acquired in 2016
Daniel Pitín, Taxi Driver, 2019, oil, acrylic, canvas, acquired in 2020
KW (Igor Korpaczewski), The Spell of the Drug, 2007, acrylic, canvas, acquired in 2020
Milan Grygar, Antiphona, 2014, acrylic, canvas, acquired in 2015
Milan Grygar, Antiphona, 2014, acrylic, canvas, acquired in 2015
Pavla Sceranková, First Woman, 2013, welding, bolting, iron, acquired in 2014
Karel Nepraš, Raid on the Rabbit Hutch, 1968–1970, mixed media, combination, acquired in 2016
Photos of the artworks in print quality are available here
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
© Jan Kolský
Photos of the exhibition in print quality are available here
29 April – 30 August 2026
GHMP KNIHOVNA, Mariánské náměstí 98/1, 110 00 Prague 1
Curator: Magdalena Juříková
Graphic Design: Josefina Karlíková
Architectural Design: Natálie Najbrtová
Opening hours
Tue–Sun 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
Thu 10 a.m.– 8 p.m.
Admission
CZK 200 full (adults) / CZK 90 discounted (students and seniors) Free admission – holders of the “particularly severe disability” card, holders of the “particularly severe disability” card with a guide, their guides, and holders of one of the following cards: GHMP Member / Member Plus / Patron
For up-to-date information on accompanying programmes, guided tours and educational activities, please visit our web.
Tickets are available through the GoOut network and at GHMP box offices.
