Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, founded in 2010, is situated in Education City in Qatar Foundation, in a renovated former school building. QF is led by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. Mathaf is part of Qatar Museums, led by H.E. Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Mathaf Collection, co-owned by Qatar Museums and Qatar Foundation, is now holding over 9,000 works, making it the world’s largest specialized collection of its kind. An initial group of works was gathered by H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani.

Mathaf organises major exhibitions, both historical and experimental, and large-scale education programs performing an important role as a center for dialogue, research, and a resource for fostering creativity. Mathaf hosts solo and group exhibitions by artists from the region, and events that explore and celebrate modern and contemporary art.

In the early 1990s H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani started building a collection of modern and contemporary art, mainly focusing on the region and its historical and cultural connection from North Africa to Asia and from Turkey and Iran. The first space of Mathaf, situated in two private villas in Madinat Khalifa in Doha, was imagined from the idea of what an Arab Museum of Modern Art might look like, a place for sharing the massive production of art in the region.

The development of the museum continued as an inspiring space for dialogue and scholarship about modern and contemporary art with artists in residency in Doha, and also as a place for art production and display. Today Mathaf is focusing on showing the permanent collection and producing major shows based on new commissions.