Agam Museum, Rishon LeTsiyon – Visitors Guide

Yaacov Agam Museum is a lovely art museum in Rishon LeTsiyon. It presents Yaacov’s Kinetic art masterpieces.

Map

Agam Museum is located at Meishar Street 1, Rishon LeTsiyon.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

There is paid parking near the museum (blue and white curb) by the roundabout at Meishar Street. However, during our latest visit, we parked for free at the parking lot on Israel Galili Street 6, less than a two-minute walk from the museum.

Opening Hours

Monday – Wednesday: 10:00 – 14:30
Thursday: 16:00 – 20:00
Friday and Saturday: 10:00 – 14:30

Entrance Fee

Adult: 40 NIS
Child (5-18): 25
Student, senior citizen: 30 NIS
Child under 5: free

Notes:

• There are discounts for Rishon LeTsiyon residents.
• The entrance fee and opening hours were updated in August 2024. In any case, recheck the official site before your visit.

Tours

There are two types of tours:

• Guided tour for the general public: 55 NIS per adult and 25 NIS per teenager (12-18). This tour lasts about 75 minutes.
• Activities for the whole family: 40 NIS per adult and 25 NIS per child (5-18). We joined such a tour recently, and the duration was 45 minutes.

Exhibitions at Agam Museum

Like other art museums, the museum has temporary and permanent exhibitions. It is spread over two floors. The lower level is dedicated to Agam’s works (the permanent exhibition), and the upper floor holds temporary exhibitions. However, during our visit, they were changing between two temporary exhibitions, so the second floor was closed. Thus, the first tip would be to make sure whether there is a temporary exhibition on display.

Activities for the whole family

Recently, we joined a tour named “Activities for the whole family.”

Our tour started near this self-portrait:

Our guide told us a little about Yaacov Agam and his art. Yaacov was born into a religious family in Rishon LeTsiyon and did not study in school. Religion affected Yaacov’s art. For example, following the writing, “You shall not make to yourselves idols, and you shall not erect images or statues for yourselves,” you will not find people in his art. Instead, his art consists of geometric forms. Moreover, you will find many references to typological numbers (numbers with special religious meanings). Primarily, there are many references to the number nine and its multipliers.

Today, Yaacov (born in 1928) is 96. He continues to create art and loves to visit this museum.

Kinetic Art

Yaacov Agam is the father of the kinetic movement and one of the leading artists of the 20th century.

What is Kinetic Art?

Kinetic art encompasses any art form that incorporates movement perceptible by the viewer. Movement can be done by the art (for example, rotating sculpture) or the viewer (like walking around a painting).

Therefore, I created a short video to help you better understand this museum. You can see it at the top of this page.

The next stop of our tour included watching a short movie about the creation of the museum’s building. The film was projected to four screens (located in a square around us), and we sat on swiveling chairs.

After the film, we headed to the main hall. There are two copies of the following sculpture. One is in this museum, and the second one is at the Elysee Palace. Only when kings, presidents, and other important people visit the palace does a palace worker turn this sculpture. And here, everybody can see it. However, the sculpture is located in a colorful room in the palace. And since the sculpture is reflective, it reflects the room.

Note: you cannot touch anything in the museum – only the guide wearing a glove touched art.

The following image shows the typical structure of Kinetic art in the Agam Museum. It is not a straight canvas but rather a collection of pyramids. Looking at this art from different angles, you can see various sides of the pyramids. Furthermore, in this piece, each pyramid side is divided into two. Thus, you can see four images (two from each side). Since this is a rotating sculpture with the same structure on the other side, you can see eight different images. Those images show various stages of the day, from morning to night (Cycle of the Day repeats as long as the statue rotates).

Here are several additional photos from the museum:

How much time does a visit to the museum take?

This is a small museum, and we spent an hour there. Depending on the tour type and selected workshop, a typical visit will probably be 30 – 90 minutes.

Summary

Agam Museum is a delightful museum. We learned new things and enjoyed the tour. I would advise joining one of the tours since it will upgrade the visit. But since it is small, I suggest combining it with other nearby attractions. You can find them on the interactive map above.

Have you been to the Agam Museum? If so, please share your experience in the comments below.

That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!

Stay Tuned!

Additional Resources

Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:

• Trip Planner with Attractions and Itineraries is the page that will help you create your perfect travel route.
• What is the Best Time to visit Israel? To answer this question, we will consider the weather, prices, holidays, festivals, and more.
• Information and Tips for Tourists to Israel will answer the most common questions tourists have about Israel (including safety, passports, weather, currency, tipping, electricity, and much more).
• Israel National Parks and Nature Reserves include a complete list, top ten, map, tickets (Israel Pass, Matmon, combo), and campsites.
• If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, Akko (Acre), Eilat, Nazareth, Safed (Tzfat), and Makhtesh Ramon.