Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

The first institution of its kind in the region, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar offers an Arab perspective on modern and contemporary art. Our story really begins more than twenty years ago, when our patron and founder H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani first began to imagine what an Arab Museum of Modern Art might look like. He started to build a collection that could serve artists and public as a rich and representative treasure-house of modern Arab art. And he saw this collection as a starting point, to create more opportunities for artists and for art-lovers in Doha and around the world.

"Part of the mission of Mathaf is to expand people‘s ideas about art and culture in this region—to show that the story is bigger, more exciting and more surprising than might be supposed," said Qatar Museums Authority Chairperson Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Mathaf’s growing collection represents a priceless resource to help connect our rich cultural heritages to the promise of contemporary art movements. Based in Qatar, looking forward into the 21st century, we want to offer a platform for all kinds of local and international visitors, scholars, artists, collectors and enthusiasts to meet, converse and engage more closely with the art of the Arab world and beyond.