Visual Arts Department

The Visual Arts Department within the National Museum of Banat was established in December 2017 by the decision of the Timiș County Council. The National Museum of Banat had an Art Section with a rich patrimony of over 8,000 works of painting, sculpture, graphics and decorative art, which was transferred to the Timișoara Art Museum, established in December 2005.

With the mission of collecting, conserving, restoring, researching, exhibiting objects and various forms of artistic expression in Banat, and, in a broad sense, in Romania and Europe, the Visual Arts Department of the National Museum of Banat formed in the first three years of there is a heritage of over 5,500 cultural assets. Divided into 7 collections of painting, graphics, sculpture, ceramics-glass-metals, furniture, textiles and clothing accessories, documents, these objects are important to illustrate the various artistic currents in Banat, Romania and Europe and taste / fashion as a fact of society. for the province of Banat in the modern and contemporary period (1700 – until today).

The objectives of the procurement strategy are as follows:

1. to compile a collection to testify to the evolution of taste and fashion for interior decoration in Banat, based on museums of applied / decorative art in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy (Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Zagreb, Ljubljana) , which have developed collections independent of the large art galleries (collections of ancient, modern and contemporary art) in these cities, offering the museum public a diverse range of exhibitions.

2. illustration of some sequences from the history of the phenomenon of art collections (painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative arts) in Banat, from the 18th century to the present day.

3. the formation of a collection to illustrate the evolution of applied arts in Banat, Romania and European countries, with emphasis on the history of design and factories in Banat from 1840 to 1990 (Tomești glass factory, Turul shoe factories, Guban, gloves, Pucher Andreas stove factory)

The activity of the Visual Arts Department within the National Museum of Banat happily completes the mission and objectives of the History Section, the results being visible in the collaboration between the two entities in organizing temporary exhibitions about the history, culture and society of Banat in modern and contemporary period.