Galerie Rudolfinum shares its home with the Czech Philharmonic in the historical building of Rudolfinum in Prague. Galerie is a non-profit organisation whose principal mission is to present contemporary art to the public.
Originally known as Dům umění (House of Art), Rudolfinum was built as a concert hall and gallery by architects Josef Zítek and Josef Schulz in the Renaissance Revival style. The opening ceremony was in 1885. At that time, exhibitions were organised by Společnost vlasteneckých přátel umění (Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts) and Krasoumná jednota (Fine Arts Union); they included the works of major Czech artists of the day: Mikoláš Aleš, Antonín Chittussi and Antonín Slavíček. Alongside the permanent collection, Rudolfinum’s galleries dedicated to contemporary art hosted mainly short-term exhibitions of contemporary art. Between the early 1900s and the First World War, the exhibitions culminated with the presentation of some of the greatest names of art of that period: Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Paul Klee and many others, which has laid the historical foundation for the international focus on the best expressions of fine arts of the modern time. After Czechoslovakia formed as an independent state, it was decided that the building of Rudolfinum would become the seat of the new parliament, and the construction modifications affected not only the gallery but also the concert wing of the building. The grand concert hall was reinstated in 1940-1941, and a smaller concert hall was built. After 1945, the music life returned to Rudolfinum in full swing, but the gallery wing continued to serve different purposes – classrooms and back facilities of the academy of music, and the hall was fitted with a different ceiling and was used as a gymnasium.
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