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Address: C/ San Pío V, 9
Admission: Free
Where to Enjoy Art in Valencia: Ten Museums and Art Galleries
Valencia is home to more than forty-five museums of every kind and for every taste. Art and culture permeate everyday life in Valencia, something that becomes clear in the abundance of creative venues, galleries, and educational spaces found throughout the city. They preserve and develop Valencian traditions, embrace the breadth of Spanish art, and showcase highlights from the international scene. La Cotorra presents ten of the finest art galleries in the city.
The most important museum in the Valencian Community opened its doors in 1839. Its collection now includes around two thousand works, among them paintings by José de Ribera, Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Francisco de Goya, El Greco, Joaquín Sorolla – who, incidentally, was born in Valencia – Cecilio Pla, and other celebrated artists. Of special note is the substantial collection of works by Valencian painters of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, with their Gothic imagery, as well as Spanish art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The ground floor is dedicated to religious art. The museum also holds an impressive body of drawings and etchings, along with archaeological pieces, photographs and decorative arts. It grew out of the collection of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Charles, which began receiving donations from its pupils and professors in the late eighteenth century. During the Civil War, the museum was dismantled and used as a storage site; it later moved to the former seminary of San Pío V, where it remains. Allow around two hours for a visit, and afterwards you may rest in the neighbouring Jardines del Real / Viveros.
Opened in 1986, IVAM became the first museum of modern art in Spain. Conveniently located in the historic centre, it devotes major attention to the historical avant-garde from 1914 to the present day, allowing visitors to view the current century through the prism of the previous one. The museum comprises eight galleries; the core of its permanent collection consists of sculptures by Julio González and paintings by the Impressionist Ignacio Pinazo.
Temporary exhibitions are held regularly – among those previously featured are Mona Hatoum, Rodchenko, Paco Roca, Josef Albers and Josep Renau. Until 12 October 2025 the museum is showing a major exhibition by the Spanish artist Soledad Sevilla, renowned for her large-format abstract paintings and installations. In the lower Sala de la Muralla, which has its own entrance, one can see a long section of a fourteenth-century medieval wall uncovered during the construction of the building.
A private collection of contemporary art occupies the restored seventeenth-century Baroque palace Palacio Valeriola, whose refurbishment took nearly six years. The centre is named after the Valencian philanthropist Hortensia Herrero: “One of my ambitions is to reveal the beauty of historic buildings that have fallen into ruin. My team has managed to adapt their unique features – their corners, cracks and passageways – to house great works of art.”
The collection includes more than one hundred works, some acquired at the Venice Biennale. Around fifty artists are represented, among them Joan Miró, Miquel Barceló, Georg Baselitz, Mat Collishow, Tony Cragg and Andreas Gursky. Six artists were commissioned to create site-specific installations that animate the palace’s more unusual spaces.
Across four floors the centre houses seventeen exhibition rooms, best visited at sunset when the changing light transforms the atmosphere. In the courtyard is a small garden, while on the lower level visitors can see the remains of the ancient Roman circus uncovered during restoration. In the second century AD it was the city’s largest structure, covering an area greater than three football pitches. Also visible are an eight-point Islamic fountain and a wall from the old Jewish quarter.
Opened in 2005, the foundation became the first private centre for contemporary art in the Valencian Community. In 1957 three influential artistic groups emerged in Spain – Grupo Parpalló, El Paso and Equipo 57 – and the museum exhibits works belonging to these and other movements: Informalism, New Figuration, Chronicle of Reality, Realism and the so-called New Generation. It also holds pieces representing eclectic artistic tendencies that arose in the 1980s and continue today.
Approximately seventy works are displayed across three floors, while more than four thousand have been shown since the foundation’s inception. The museum occupies a fourteenth-century building that once belonged to the influential knight Joan de Valeriola. Today it is among Valencia’s oldest structures and a fine example of the city’s Gothic heritage. Restoration brought back its large carved-stone arches, triple windows, austere façade and remarkable coffered ceilings.
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Address: C/ Poeta Querol, 2
Admission: 3 €
Housed in the Palace of the Marquises of Dos Aguas, the museum holds the country’s largest ceramic collection, spanning the eighth century to the present and including works by Picasso. The palace itself is considered the finest example of Baroque architecture in Spain. The institution was founded in 1947 when González Martí and his wife donated their ceramic collection to the state, opening to the public seven years later.
The ground floor features the former carriage court, displaying two eighteenth-century carriages and a Rococo sedan chair. The marquises lived in the palace during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the second floor shows their private rooms with stuccowork, frescoes, original German furniture, Meissen porcelain and a bath carved from Carrara marble. The third floor is dedicated to ceramics: Greek, Iberian and Roman pieces, Hispano-Moresque works, medieval Valencian tiles, and objects from the Royal Factory of Alcora. The museum also holds a collection of mainly religious paintings, including copies of works from Versailles.
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Addresses:
– C/ del Peu de la Creu, 7
– C/ Amadeu de Savoia, 16 (The Westin Valencia)
– C/ Eugenia Viñes, 22–24 (Hotel Balneario Las Arenas)
Admission: Free
Galerie Alaux operates three exhibition spaces in Valencia, presenting a lively selection of international and Spanish contemporary art: Pop Art, street art, painting, sculpture and installations. Founded by Stéphane Alaux, the gallery caters to those who appreciate the provocative edge of Pop Art and counterculture. He maintains that Valencian audiences are difficult to impress, and therefore curates with particular care.
Works by Robert Combas, Philippe Pasqua, Hom Nguyen, Idan Zareski and many others reflect current global artistic trends and draw visitors into a vibrant world of colour, texture and fresh perspectives. The gallery exhibits artists at every stage of their career, from Andy Warhol to emerging figures from the Philippines. Works may be purchased or leased, with prices ranging from three thousand to fifty thousand euros. Plans for new branches include Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Barcelona.
Founded in 2015, Shiras Galeria offers high-quality contemporary avant-garde art across painting, sculpture, drawing and installation. Its team regularly attends national and international art fairs, bringing outstanding works back to Valencia.
The Main Gallery shows recent works by long-established contemporary artists. The Espacio Refugio, a former Civil War shelter, is dedicated to avant-garde work, installations and pieces by selected young artists, and also hosts temporary exhibitions. All works are available for purchase.
The gallery participates in the Festín art-and-gastronomy festival, where guest chefs and bartenders reinterpret artistic themes in dishes and drinks. In May 2025 the chefs of Somos Raro created an aesthetic and culinary experience inspired by the chromatic atmosphere of Eucromía. Tickets sell out immediately (from 25 €).
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Address: C/ de Quevedo, 10, Ciutat Vella
Admission: Free
“A modern museum that helps us understand the modern world and our place within it,” say its founders. Opened in 2001, the museum is devoted to the ideas and values that shaped the Western world and led to profound societal and political change.
The permanent exhibition, The Adventure of Thought, combines the classic intellectual museum experience with a sensory and emotional one, using visual language to explain ideas that reshaped history. The core of the collection consists of photography, advertising, moving images and net art, covering the past eight centuries from the medieval dominance of the Catholic Church onwards. A detailed three-dimensional model of Valencia deserves particular attention. Temporary exhibitions are held regularly.
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Address: C/ Museo, 2
Admission: Free
Situated in the lively district of El Carmen, the centre occupies the monumental former Royal Monastery of Our Lady of Carmen, founded in the thirteenth century. Its past intertwines with its present: over the centuries, the monastery has served as the Fine Arts Museum, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Charles, and the School of Fine Arts and Crafts. Many leading Valencian artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries studied here, including Ignacio Pinazo, Joaquín Sorolla and Francisco Domingo. The building reopened as an art centre in 2017.
The centre continuously hosts avant-garde exhibitions, and visitors’ impressions will depend largely on the current programme. Disciplines include performing and visual arts, performance, music, books, and design. Until 21 September it is showing 37 Ilustres X 37 Ilustrados, a tribute to eminent Valencian artists and illustrators from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The ideal time to visit is at sunset, when the rooms are filled with soft evening light. There is a dedicated room for children, too.
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Address: C/ Pascual y Genis, 19, top floor; other branches listed on the website
For two decades, the gallery has introduced Valencian audiences to contemporary art by exhibiting the work of significant and widely recognized artists, demonstrating how art alters the spaces it inhabits. Curators, historians, lecturers, and poets frequently hold debates here, offering thoughtful interpretations of the artists exhibited.
