İşbank Painting and Sculpture Museum in Istanbul, Turkey

Türkiye İş Bankası Painting and Sculpture Museum occupies the historic Baudouy, or Bodvi, Apartment on Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue. The museum opened on October 29, 2023 and gives public access to selections from the Türkiye İş Bankası Art Collection, which contains more than 2,700 works by over 900 artists. Its permanent galleries trace developments in Turkish painting from the nineteenth century through modern and contemporary art.

The Türkiye İş Bankası Art Collection

The collection began with three paintings acquired from the first State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition in 1939: Hikmet Onat’s Peyzaj Ortaköy, Şevket Dağ’s Rüstem Paşa Cami İçi, and Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu’s Kayık ve Evler. Those early purchases developed into a collection spanning several generations and movements in Turkish art.

Artists represented include Osman Hamdi Bey, Şeker Ahmed Paşa, Hoca Ali Rıza, Süleyman Seyyid, Mihri Hanım, İbrahim Çallı, Nurullah Berk, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, Füreya Koral, Kuzgun Acar, Burhan Doğançay, Devrim Erbil, Özdemir Altan, Nazlı Ecevit, and Neş’e Erdok. The holdings cover painters active before the Tanzimat period, military painters, graduates of the Sanayi-i Nefise school, the 1914 Generation, early women painters, the Independent Painters and Sculptors Association, the d Group, later twentieth-century groups, and contemporary artists.

The Permanent Exhibition

The museum’s permanent exhibition is titled Türk Resmini İzlemek, which can be rendered in English as “Observing Turkish Painting.” Founding curator Prof. Dr. Gül İrepoğlu organized the selection using chronological, thematic, and conceptual relationships rather than presenting the collection as a simple sequence of dates.

The visit is designed to begin on the fifth floor. Here, works by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century painters appear alongside artists of the 1914 Generation and the first decades of the Republic. Osman Hamdi Bey, Süleyman Seyyid, Şeker Ahmed Paşa, Hoca Ali Rıza, and Mihri Hanım are among the artists represented. The display also groups paintings around subjects such as the sea, Anatolian imagery, and portraits of women.

The permanent route continues on the fourth floor with works extending from the middle of the twentieth century to the present. It includes artists associated with the d Group, works connected with the Eyüboğlu circle, and later individual approaches represented by artists including Burhan Doğançay, Devrim Erbil, Özdemir Altan, Bedri Baykam, Nazlı Ecevit, and Neş’e Erdok.

Osman Hamdi Bey’s Second The Tortoise Trainer

One of the best-known works in the museum is Osman Hamdi Bey’s 1907 version of Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi (The Tortoise Trainer). Osman Hamdi painted two closely related versions of the composition. The first, dated 1906, belongs to the Pera Museum collection, while the second was completed in 1907 and belongs to the Türkiye İş Bankası Art Collection.

The later version contains six tortoises rather than five. It also includes details absent from the 1906 painting, including an additional calligraphic panel bearing the name “Muhammad” and a green-glazed Çanakkale ceramic vessel near the window. The inscription on the painting indicates that Osman Hamdi Bey presented it to Münir Pasha in 1907. It is displayed as part of Türk Resmini İzlemek.

A Digital Work by Refik Anadol

The collection also extends into digital art. Refik Anadol’s Büyük Doğa Modeli Türkiye – Flora became the museum’s first artificial-intelligence data sculpture. The ten-minute work was created from a generative AI model trained with flower-related data connected to field research carried out in 33 national parks in Türkiye.

The project combines material collected through sound, image, and scanning work with open academic data. The museum presents the resulting Türkiye – Flora work together with screens connected to the project’s interactive Living Encyclopedia experience.

From Baudouy Apartment to Museum

The building itself forms part of the museum experience. Baudouy Apartment was constructed in 1907 on İstiklal Avenue, with commercial spaces on its lower levels and residences above. Türkiye İş Bankası later acquired the property, and it served as the bank’s Beyoğlu branch from 1953 until 2016.

The registered historic building underwent a four-year restoration and renovation before becoming a museum. The project preserved elements including the exterior façades, the historic elevator, and the staircase surrounding it while introducing the structural and technical systems needed for galleries and art conservation. Teğet Architecture prepared the restoration project.

The exhibition layout follows the vertical form of the building. The fifth and fourth floors contain the permanent collection, while the third and second floors are used for temporary exhibitions. The entrance level includes the RHM shop, RHM Cafe, and BlackBox, a multipurpose space used for talks, workshops, seminars, and other museum programs.

Recognition by the European Museum Forum

The museum was among the institutions considered for the 2025 European Museum of the Year Awards. At the European Museum Forum’s 2025 awards, it received a Special Commendation. The museum was recognized for its curatorial approach, presentation of artists and works that had received less public attention, accessibility, and the relationship between the restored historic building and its contemporary museum spaces.

Visiting the Museum

The museum is on İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu, close to Şişhane Metro Station and the historic Tünel funicular and beside the Odakule tram stop. It does not have its own parking area. Public transport is the more practical option because vehicle access to İstiklal Avenue is restricted for much of the day.

Regular museum hours are 10:00–19:00 Tuesday through Friday and 12:00–19:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Admission ends 30 minutes before closing. The museum normally closes on Mondays as well as January 1, May 1, and the first days of the Ramadan and Sacrifice holidays.

The museum is temporarily closed from August 3 through August 25, 2026 while new exhibition preparations are underway. Regular opening hours apply outside announced temporary closures.

Current admission is 100 TL for adult visitors and 20 TL for students and visitors aged 65 or older. The listed international rates are 200 TL for adults and 100 TL for international students and visitors aged 65 or older. Children under 12, school groups with accompanying teachers, visitors with disabilities and one companion, ICOM members, journalists, and several other groups listed by the museum can enter free of charge.

The galleries are accessible to wheelchair users, and a wheelchair is available at the museum when required. Free Wi-Fi and a free cloakroom are also provided. Personal photography and short video recording are allowed under the museum’s rules, but flash, tripods, and selfie sticks are not permitted.