State Museum of Contemporary Art

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This article is about the Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art, in Thessaloniki. For other Museums named Museum of Contemporary Art, see Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art (Greek: Κρατικό Μουσείο Σύγχρονης Τέχνης) is a state museum based in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was founded in 1997, at the occasion of Thessaloniki's year as European Capital of Culture. The museum was established by a law passed in the Greek Parliament by then Greek Minister of Culture, Evangelos Venizelos. Its initial collection was formed by a large part of the famous Costakis Collection, acquired by the Greek state. It contains around 1,275 works of Russian avant-garde art consisting of paintings, sculptures, drawings and constructions. The first director of the SMCA was the Aristotle University Professor Miltiadis Papanikolaou, who remained in the position until 2006. Dr. Maria Tsantsanoglou, a specialist in the Russian Avant-Garde period, was appointed the next director of the State Museum of Contemporary Art.