The origins of the collection date back to the 1990s; it is known as the Zuzāns Collection from the year 2017 and represents more than 30,000 items of painting, graphic art, sculpture, decorative arts, and design.

Today Zuzāns Collection is developing at a great rate. With late-19th-century and early-20th-century art, classical modernist art, and Soviet-era art, the collection represents established artists and movements in the history of Latvian art and lesser-known, nonconformist personalities, whose work may be underrepresented in Latvian public art institutions.

A growing collection of contemporary international painting and sculpture marks a new direction in the development of the collection, which includes such authors as Rashid Johnson (1977), Nathaniel Mary Quinn (1977), Emily Mae Smith (1979), Marina Abramović (1946) and others. This expansion aims to place Latvian art within a broader context and engage in active dialogue with the international art community by organizing exhibitions and publications and providing loans.

Jānis Zuzāns, the founder of the Zuzāns Collection, has been supporting art for two decades, providing funds for the representation of Latvian art abroad, national participation at the Venice Biennale, art and music festivals, and art publishing. He patronizes the Purvītis Prize – awarded every two years for the most outstanding achievement in Latvian professional visual arts. He is also a member of Tate’s Central and Eastern Europe Plus Acquisitions Committee (CEEPAC).

Zuzāns Collection is housed in a former cork factory designed and built in 1910, now – Zuzeum Art Centre with 1,100 square meters, which opened in 2020. Zuzeum is a new addition to the arts infrastructure of the Baltic Sea region. Zuzeum programme is also reflected in its regional and national partnerships for sharing collections and programs and engaging new audiences.

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