MAR-Ravenna Art Museum is housed in a monastery building constructed in the XVI century and characterized by a beautiful loggia, the so-called Loggetta Lombardesca. The museum annually houses various temporary exhibitions: from large thematic ones to the Biennale of Contemporary Mosaics. One of the most important objects of the permanent collection is the Effigy of Guidarello Guidarelli by Tullio Lombardo, a sculpture glorified in the work of the poet D’Annunzio.
The collection of the Pinacotheca contains objects from the period between XIV and XXI centuries. Some of the most notable pieces include works by Antonio Vivarini, Marco Palmezzano, Nicolò Rondinelli, Giorgio Vasari, Guercino, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Domenico Baccarini, and Gustav Klimt.
The latter even visited Ravenna himself, captivated by the splendor of the Byzantine mosaics.
Contemporary art is well represented by works of such artists as Schifano, Festa, Boetti, Castellani, Cattelan, Banksy, and even Edoardo Tresoldi, whose installation occupies the internal garden of the museum.
The Collection of Contemporary Mosaics includes a series of mosaics and corresponding cartoons, realized for an exhibition curated by Giuseppe Bovini in 1959. The exhibited mosaics were translated from the works of twenty established artists, including Chagall, Mathieu, Guttuso, Cagli, Capogrossi, Saetti, Birolli, Santomaso, Vedova, Moreni, Corpora, De Luigi, Campigli, Afro, and Mirko. The collection continues to be enriched with works by Paladino, Fioroni, Balthus, Antonioni, Ontani, Carmi, De Luca, Bravura, Sartelli, and many others.