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Presented on the occasion of the museum's 30th anniversary, Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years is the largest-ever installation of its renowned permanent collection, featuring more than 500 artworks by over 200 artists. MOCA's collection, which numbers nearly 6,000 works dating from 1939 to the present day, is internationally regarded as one of the most important collections of postwar art in the world. While works from the collection have been seen in more than 100 thematic exhibitions at MOCA since the museum's founding in 1979, this installation makes a significant portion of the collection accessible to the public on a long-term basis. The layout of Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years is chronological, providing a comprehensive survey of the past 70 years of contemporary art history. Filling the galleries at both of MOCA's downtown Los Angeles locations, the installation occupies 24,000 square feet of exhibition space at MOCA Grand Avenue with works dating from 1939 through 1979, and an additional 26,000 square feet of exhibition space at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA with works dating from 1980 to the present. Geographical as well as ideological overlaps and distinctions are highlighted, and a mix of well established and lesser-known artists are featured. Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years includes works in various media by Diane Arbus, Chris Burden, Willem de Kooning, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Alberto Giacometti, Nan Goldin, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Mike Kelley, Franz Kline, Paul McCarthy, Piet Mondrian, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, and Antoni Tápies, among many other artists. The exhibition is organized by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel.

A selection of the most significant works from the museum's permanent collection will be on view at MOCA Grand Avenue beginning July 15, 2010.

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Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years is presented by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

The exhibition is made possible by generous support from Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation; Anonymous; Maria and Bill Bell; Nicolas Berggruen; Kelly and Robert Day; Gagosian Gallery; The Suzanne M. Nora Johnson and David G. Johnson Foundation; Elena and Victor Pinchuk; The Steven F. Roth Family Foundation; Catharine and Jeffrey Soros; Dasha Zhukova; Ovation TV, the Official Network Partner of MOCA; Yannick Mathieu and Kimberly Chang; and The MOCA Contemporaries.

In-kind media support is provided by Los Angeles magazine and 89.9 KCRW FM.