Choosing 75 works of art to commemorate Israel’s 75th anniversary is daunting; Israel has a robust artistic scene that started well before the state’s founding. Early Zionists such as Martin Buber considered art a key element in the Jewish people’s rehabilitation. “A nation without art is not a nation,” he declared. As is evident in this compilation, Israel has compensated for the historic dearth of a Jewish artistic tradition resulting from both Second Commandment prohibitions and historical circumstance. Indeed, since the founding of the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem in 1906, Israel’s art scene has flourished. This collection, while not a comprehensive survey, comprises a wide range of media and artists, including painting, sculpture and architecture, and reflects the vibrancy and complexity of life in Israel, as well as the rich sources from Jewish and Israeli history that inspired these works. My hope is that the compilation will be at once stimulating and uplifting.

— Dr. Susan Nashman Fraiman

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1896 — Mattiyahu

1906-1914 — Triple Arch Bezalel Rug

1923 — Triptych: First Fruits

1916-1925 — The Chair of Elijah

1926 (circa) — Standing Hanukkah Lamp

1929 — Les Fiancées

1930 (circa) — Self-Portrait

1928-1934 — The Roaring Lion

1929-1937 — Monument to Work and Defense

1939 — Nimrod

1938-1941 — Alexander Zaid

1947 — Children of the Diaspora

1947 — Sabbath on the Kibbutz

1948 — In the Cyprus Deportation

1948 — Portrait of the Artist’s Son, Aharon-Jimmy

1948 — Nocturne (Death of a Warrior)

1948-1949 — Torah Case

1949 — The Knesset Moves to Jerusalem

1949-1950 — First Seder in Jerusalem

1951 — Life on Kibbutz (Yehiam)

1952 — Mother and Child — Memorial to Chana Tuchman Adlerstein

1953 — Monument to the Defenders of Negba

1953 — In an Immigrants’ Transit Camp

1957 — In the Courtyard of the Third Temple

1958 — Might

1960 — Fountain

1961 — Ohel Yizkor

1964 — Agripas Street

1966 — Wall to the Glory of Jerusalem

1966 — Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

1966 — Flying Spice Box

1966 — Peace Monument

1966 — The Story of Tel Aviv

1967 — At the Gates of Jerusalem

1968 — Monument to the Negev Brigade

1969 — Untitled collage

1970 — From Holocaust to Revival

1971 — Ingathering of the Exiles

1974 — Holocaust and Revival

1975 — Druksland

1983 — Holidays Set

1984 — Mita Meshuna (the Artist’s Monogram)

1985 — The Sacrifice of Isaac

1988 — Cactus

1989 — Herzl

1995-1996 — El Maleh Rachamim

1997 — Bereshit

1999 — Untitled photo

1999 — The Book of Women

2002 — Jericho First

2002 — Tomorrow’s Jerusalem — Revised and Revisited

2003 — Tree of the Field

2003 — Tilted Tree

2003 — Bayit

2005 — Today Gush Katif, Tomorrow Jaffa

2005 — Remembrance 2

2005 — Holocaust History Museum, Yad Vashem

2005-2007 — Tel Kakun

2008 — The Square in Kfar Yehoshua

2009-2010 — Nahalal

2013 — Hilula

2013 — A Delicate Balance

2014 — Operation Protective Edge and I

2014 — Return in Peace

2015 — One Day Passes and Another Day Comes

2015 — Kav 70

2016 — New Victims

2017 — Heichal HaZikaron

2017 — Samira

2018 — Strangeness

2019 — We Came to Our Land

2019 — Atlit

2021 — Rooftop Paintings

2022 — Strand

2023 — Letters of Light