Göteborgs Konstförening was founded in 1854 with a long-term goal of supporting artists through the purchase of works that were then raffled off to the association's members. But we also wanted to spread experience and knowledge by showing art to a wider public and the association became both an educational institution and a social meeting place.

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The importance of the association for Gothenburg's art scene can hardly be overestimated. From 1856, 10 percent of its income was allocated to what would become the Gothenburg Museum of Art, and in 1865 the entire art collection was donated to the museum, which became the basis for the Gothenburg Museum of Art's own collections.
Göteborgs Konstförening is also behind the formation of the Valand Art School and from 1923 and forty-three years onwards we ran Konsthallen at Götaplatsen where we exhibited contemporary art of the time, from the Gothenburg colourists to Endre Nemes and his students to the innovative experiments of the radical 1960s.

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Since 1966, Göteborgs Konstförening has conducted gallery and programme activities in different premises - on the current Kastellgatan since 2019 - but the ambition to show engaging and exciting art, to present interesting and educational programmes and to be a social meeting place is the same as when it started 170 years ago.