Neka Art Museum Museum

Address: Neka Art Museum, Jl. Raya Pengosekan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Website: https://www.museumneka.com

Hours: Daily 9am-5pm

Overview

The Neka Gallery is a commercial fine-art and handicraft gallery in the centre of Ubud, on the main road Jalan Raya. It is a separate establishment from the better-known Neka Art Museum on the town’s outskirts - the two share a founder but are entirely different places.

What visitors find / highlights

Opened in the mid-1960s by Suteja Neka, the gallery deals in paintings and crafts by Balinese and resident artists, and is a good place to see - and buy - work including pieces by the Dutch-born painter Arie Smit and other members of the Ubud art scene.

Location

On Jalan Raya Ubud, in the heart of the town.

The Neka Art Museum is in Ubud, Bali. From Ngurah Rai (Denpasar) International Airport take a taxi or hired driver north on Jalan Raya Ubud; the drive is about 30-60 minutes (roughly 30-40 km depending on route and traffic). In central Ubud the museum is a short taxi or scooter ride (around 10 minutes) or a 30-40 minute walk from Ubud Palace; there is no regular public bus service directly to the museum, so a taxi, private car or scooter is the usual way to reach it.

If you are staying in Ubud, many guesthouses and hotels can arrange a short taxi/scooter transfer to the museum; parking is available on site.

• Go first thing after opening on a weekday to avoid Ubud's midday crowds and have more space to study the galleries and gardens.
• Ask at the front desk for a short guided walkthrough-staff or a museum guide will provide context for the hybrid Balinese/modern pieces that casual visitors often miss.
• Combine the visit with a quick stop at nearby private studios on Jalan Raya Sanggingan to see working artists and smaller collections that many tourists overlook.

Not to be confused with the better-known Neka Art Museum, the Neka Gallery is a separate establishment in the heart of Ubud, dealing in fine art and handicrafts along the main road, Jalan Raya. It opened in the mid-1960s as a small venture showing a limited selection of local work.

Today it holds paintings from across Bali and the wider archipelago, including pieces by Western expatriates settled on the island, such as the gifted Arie Smit. Its curator, Suteja Neka, was inspired to begin collecting after travelling widely and visiting galleries and museums around the world; those experiences shaped the gallery’s growth into the respected fixture of Ubud’s art scene it is today.