Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia

The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern is a museum devoted to modern and contemporary art, known as IVAM. It opened in 1989 as Spain’s first museum dedicated to modern art, giving Valencia a major institution for the art of the twentieth century. The building you see is the Centre Julio González, designed by Emilio Giménez and Carles Salvadores and opened in 1989.

Its collection began with 118 works by Julio González, acquired before the museum itself was created. González is represented by nearly 400 works, spanning sculpture, drawing, painting and jewellery, with every period of his artistic career included. His iron sculptures are a defining thread here, but the collection reaches far beyond them: it includes historical avant-garde art, later pop art and neo-figuration, photography, photomontage and graphic design.

The museum holds more than 2,000 works in those image-based fields. Beneath the building, the Sala de la Muralla incorporates surviving sections of Valencia’s medieval wall, built during the second half of the fourteenth century. That underground setting now hosts exhibitions, including a permanent presentation devoted to Ignacio Pinazo. So this is not simply a gallery building: it joins a major modern-art collection with preserved medieval fabric, and places Julio González’s restless ironwork at its core.