The exhibition Material imagination departs from the story of Israeli art as a chronological narrative running parallel to the national story. Material imagination is a model of thinking conceived by philosopher Gaston Bachelard during years of delving into the four elements—earth, air, water, and fire—and their incarnations in the imagination and in art. The material imagination thrives in the dialogue between the materials of the world and archaic images—archetypes accumulated and etched in human consciousness.

The model formulated by Bachelard is the organizing principle underpinning the current collection exhibition. The three galleries of Israeli art unfold three chapters: Promised land, Airship, and Blazing movement. Each chapter examines the works through a host of associations arising from the artworks' materials or elemental images. This distinction returns the gaze to the materiality of the artwork as an act and an object, requiring an attentive gaze, free of preconceptions regarding the art created here from the beginning of the previous century to the present day.

The painting by artist Zoya Cherkassky-Nadi has been on display in the Israeli collection since September, after being received as a gift to the Museum by the artist Juraj David in memory of his parents, Alexander David and Sida David (née Tobowitz), survivors of Auschwitz.

In the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, Cherkassky-Nadi created a series of vivid drawings of scenes of the disaster. These intimate drawings held monumental power, and she chose to enlarge one of them into a large-scale painting. The painting simultaneously depicts the movement of women fleeing for their lives and the freeze-framing of the horrendous moments of terror that will be forever imprinted on Jewish and Israeli history.

Participating artists: Abed Abdi, Etti Abergel, David Adika, Zvi Aldouby, Alima, Dalia Amotz, Meir Appelfeld, Michael Argov, Arie Aroch, Samuel Bak, Ido Bar-El, Joav BarEl, Michal BarOr, Arnon Ben-David, Avner Ben-Gal, Eitan Ben Moshe, Asaf Ben Zvi, Deganit Berest, Adam Berg, "Bezalel", Naftali Bezem, Ludwig Blum, Joshua (Shuky) Borkovsky, Joseph Budko, Yael Burstein, Moshe Castel, Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi, Chen Cohen, Pinchas Cohen Gan, Roy Cohen, Nurit David, Yoav Efrati, Smadar Eliasaf, Asaf Elkalai, Maayan Elyakim, Leon Engelsberg, Nir Evron, Belu-Simion Fainaru, Eliyahu Fatal, Yair Garbuz, Eliyahu Gat, Moshe Gat, Gideon Gechtman, Moshe Gershuni, Tsibi Geva, David Ginton, Pesi Girsch, Michael Gitlin, Aharon Gluska, Yitzhak (Itche) Golombek, Yehoshua Grossbard, Nahum Gutman, Shoshana Heimann, Michal Helfman, Irit Hemmo, Tamar Hirschfeld, Samuel Hirszenberg, Eti Jacobi, Chaim Kiewe, Liliane Klapisch, Olga Kundina, Raffi Lavie, Yudith Levin, Maryan, Moshe Matusowski, Abraham Melnikov, Uriel Miron, Michal Na’aman, Efrat Natan, Joshua Neustein, Lea Nikel, Nora and Naomi, Ibrahim Nubani, Avraham Ofek, Avshalom Okashi, Chana Orloff, Shabtai Pinchevsky, Shimon Pinto, Mordecai Pitkin, Sigal Primor, Moshe Props, Ze’ev Raban, David Reeb, Reuven Rubin, Avi Sabah, Hanna Sahar, Maria Saleh Mahameed, Porat Salomon, Benno Schotz, Michael Sgan Cohen, Fatma Shanan, Rachel Shavit, , Yehiel Shemi, Naomi Siman-Tov, Pesach Slabosky, Jakob Steinhardt, Moshe Sternschuss, Sionah Tagger, Igael Tumarkin, Lihi Turjeman, Micha Ullman, Aviva Uri, Yocheved Weinfeld, Sharon Ya’ari, Shahar Yahalom, Yosef Zaritsky, Ben Zion.

Participating artists (first year of the exhibition): Etti Abergel, Larry Abramson, Walid Abu Shakra, David Adika, Zvi Aldouby, Alima, Dalia Amotz, Arie Aroch, Alize Auerbach, Shmuel Bak, Micha Bar-Am, Ido Bar-El, Joav BarEl, Adina Bar-On, Arnon Ben-David, Eitan Ben Moshe, Asaf Ben-Zvi, Deganit Berest, Adam Berg, "Bezalel", Naftali Bezem, Joshua (Shuky) Borkovsky, Yossi Breger, Bella Brisel, Joseph Budko, Yael Burstein, Miriam Cabessa, Moshe Castel, Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi, Chen Cohen, Mirit Cohen, Pinchas Cohen Gan, Nurit David, Maayan Elyakim, Leon Engelsberg, Käthe Ephraim Marcus, Bianca Eshel-Gershuni, Bracha L. Ettinger, Eliyahu Fatal, Yair Garbuz, Eliyahu Gat, Moshe Gat, Gideon Gechtman, Moshe Gershuni, Tsibi Geva, David Ginton, Pesi Girsch, Michael Gitlin, Yitzhak Golombek, Michael Grobman, Michael Gross, Yehoshua Grossbard, Nahum Gutman, Joseph Halevy, Emanuel Hatzofe, Shoshana Heimann, Michal Helfman, Tamar Hirschfeld, Irit Hemmo, Samuel Hirszenberg, Eti Jacobi, Uri Katzenstein, Chaim Kiewe, Yehiel Krize, Raffi Lavie, Helmar Lerski, Yudith Levin, Batia Lichansky, Ella Littwitz, Pinchas Litvinovsky, Maryan, Moshe Matusowski, Abraham Melnikov, Jacob Mishori, Michal Na'aman, Efrat Natan, Joshua Neustein, Lea Nikel, Moshe Ninio, Nora and Naomi, Ibrahim Nubani, Avshalom Okashi, Chana Orloff, Mordecai Pitkin, Sigal Primor, Ze'ev Raban, David Reeb, Reuven Rubin, Avi Sabah, Maria Saleh Mahameed, Porat Salomon, Hadas Satt, Shmuel Schlesinger, Ruth Schloss, Benno Schotz, Fatma Shanan, Rachel Shavit, Henry Shelesnyak, Yehiel Shemi, Michael Sgan Cohen, Pesach Slabosky, Sultana Souroujon, Jakob Steinhardt, Moshe Sternschuss, Sionah Tagger, Naama Tsabar, Igael Tumarkin, Aviva Uri, Gal Weinstein, Ruth Dorrit Yacoby, Shahar Yahalom, Yosef Zaritsky, Ben Zion.