Vatican Museums: Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art

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What it is

The Vatican's collection of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, inaugurated by Paul VI in 1973 as the Collection of Modern Religious Art and known today as the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. Part of it is displayed in and around the Borgia Apartments, so that modern works are seen beneath Pinturicchio's late-fifteenth-century decoration — one of the museum's most striking juxtapositions.

How big it actually is

The collection now contains approximately 8,000–9,000 works, with only a rotating selection — around 450 works according to the Vatican's 2023 account of the collection's fiftieth anniversary — displayed along the route. Older guidebooks and websites often repeat figures such as "800 works in 55 rooms", which describe the scale at the 1973 inauguration rather than the collection today. In practice visitors see a small curated selection, not the full holdings, and the displays change.

How it started

Paul VI set out to repair a relationship between the Church and contemporary artists that had grown distant over the previous century. Addressing artists in the Sistine Chapel in 1964, he acknowledged that the Church had at times constrained rather than listened to them, and he invited them into a renewed dialogue. The collection was assembled largely through donations — many from artists, their families and private collectors — and was inaugurated in 1973 in the Borgia Apartments.

Artists in the collection

Artists documented in the Vatican's own account of the collection include Vincent van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Marc Chagall, Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Giacomo Manzù, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri and Henri Matisse, among many others.

Which individual works are hanging depends on the current rotation. Rather than arriving with a checklist of specific titles copied from third-party lists, check the room panels and the Vatican Museums' online catalogue entry for the collection before your visit — several works commonly attributed to this collection online are either differently titled or not on display.

The Matisse material

The best-documented centrepiece of the collection is the Matisse group connected with the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence: preparatory material and designs relating to the chapel's decoration, chasubles and figures. It is a coherent body of work rather than a single canvas, and it shows a major twentieth-century artist working directly on a religious commission — precisely the dialogue Paul VI wanted the collection to represent.

How to find it

1. Follow the Sistine Chapel signs from the entrance.
2. After the Raphael Rooms, look for "Arte Contemporanea" or "Appartamento Borgia".
3. Descend the stairs into the Borgia rooms and adjoining spaces.
4. The display is self-guided; on most itineraries you rejoin the route towards the Sistine Chapel at the far end, though sections can be closed or diverted.

Allow roughly 30–45 minutes if you want to look properly rather than pass through.

Frequently Asked Questions

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