MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (НА НА МУЗЕЈ - MUZEU I ARTEVE BASHKËKOHORE)

Located above the Vardar River, past the Skopje fortress, this national museum (Музеј на Современа Уметност Скопје/Muzej na Sovremena Umetnost Skopje, Muzeu i Artit Bashkëkohor nga Shkupi) was established in 1970. It houses one of the most important contemporary art collections in the Balkans. It was founded after the 1963 earthquake, thanks to an appeal for donations launched by Jean-Paul Sartre and other European intellectuals. A total of 3,000 works were donated by artists and cultural foundations from 60 countries. As a result, the museum presents a fairly comprehensive panorama of the creative output of the 1960s-1970s, much of it European. The building itself is very attractive. Designed by a collective of Polish architects and renovated in 2014, it offers beautiful views over the Vardar and Skopje's western shore. In a vast, immaculate 5,000^m2 space, works by such great names as Pierre Soulages, Niki de Saint Phalle, Kristo, Fernand Léger, David Hockney and Bernard Buffet are on display. Creations from the former Yugoslavia are in the majority, with many works by artists from what is now North Macedonia. Among them are the very fine works of Jordan Grabuloski, creator of the Makedonium de Kruševo. But the main piece is the painting Tête de femme (1963) donated by Pablo Picasso. It is not on display, but can be shown on request. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions throughout the year.