The exhibition titled "The Collective's Memory: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Collections," which brings together a century-long artistic heritage spanning from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, opens its doors at Artİstanbul Feshane on December 13th. The exhibition, featuring 627 works by 187 artists, will be open to the public free of charge for one year.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Art Collections meet the public! The exhibition, titled "The Collective's Memory: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Collections," which brings together a century-long artistic heritage spanning from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, opens its doors at Artİstanbul Feshane on December 13th. The exhibition, featuring 627 works by 187 artists, will be open to the public free of charge for one year.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM); The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) brings together works from the Atatürk Library, Aşiyan Museum, and City Museum collections, along with works added to the IMM Art Collections through donations from leading figures in the art world, in an exhibition titled "The Collective's Memory: IMM Collections." Opening on December 13th at Artİstanbul Feshane, the exhibition focuses on selections from the "Resmemaneti" collection, reflecting the shared memory of the city's artistic heritage.
**ROOTS DATE BACK TO 1925**
The history of the IMM Art Collections dates back to the 19th-century Tanzimat reforms and the establishment of the Revolution Museum in the Atatürk House in Şişli in 1925. Over time, the collection continued to evolve in various locations, including the City and Revolution Documents Museum and Library in the Beyazıt Madrasa, the Municipal Museum in the Gazanfer Ağa Madrasa, and the City Museum in the Yıldız Palace, continuing to grow and enrich with a public responsibility to this day. Today, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) continues to carry this legacy into the future with its principles of participation and accessibility.
A WIDE RANGE OF ARTISTS AND THEMATIC DIVERSITY
Offering a wide range of artists from Giovanni Bellini to Tevfik Fikret, from Abdülmecid Efendi to Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, the IMM Collections reflect a comprehensive panorama of Istanbul's artistic and cultural modernization process from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic.
The IMM Collections are particularly noteworthy for their unique richness in the field of portraiture. Representing important examples of the subject-building in art during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, these portraits reflect the social hierarchies, cultural orientations, and representation policies of the period, creating a significant visual archive of Istanbul's memory.
Donations from the past to the present play a significant role in shaping the IMM Art Collection. Thanks to the contributions of many valuable donors, from artist families to researchers, collectors to institutions, the collection has achieved a holistic structure; By expanding cultural public spaces in the city, it invites everyone to become a participant in art.
Finally, the selection acquired for the IMM Art Collection under the consultancy of collector Cengiz Akıncı and featured in the exhibition under the title "Akıncı Collection: The Collective's Memory," is presented to the audience as a meeting place where individual perspectives converge on a public platform.
Of the 627 works in the "Collective's Memory: IMM Collections" exhibition, 316 were obtained from IMM's main collections such as the Aşiyan, City, and Atatürk Libraries, while the remaining 311 works consist of pieces added to the collection through donations.
The exhibition "Collective Memory: IMM Collections," which will be open to the public free of charge at Artİstanbul Feshane for one year, can be visited every day except Monday between 10:00 and 20:00 from December 13, 2025 to December 13, 2026...
Source: https://www.haberturk.com/ibb-koleksiyonlari-sergisi-artistanbul-feshane-de-3843905?page=3