MA*GA Museum in relation with the richness of the permanent collection , the exhibitions and educational activities , is one of the most important museums of contemporary art in Italy.

The Museum was founded in 1966, with a core collection of works acquired as a result of the city's art prize, the Premio Nazionale Arti Visive, established in 1950.

In December 2009 the City of Gallarate established the Foundation of the Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Gallarate to administer the Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Municipal Gallery of Modern Art) of Gallarate, on the basis of an agreement signed by the Culture Minister and the Mayor of Gallarate. The founding partners were the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and the City of Gallarate, with the Lombardy Region and the Province of Varese as institutional partners. The mission of the Foundation is to manage the activities of the museum: the conservation and enhancement of the works in the collection, organization of exhibitions and cultural events and creative activities and training for schools and adult audiences. Following this institutional development, the Museum, historically known as the Galleria Civica d'ArteModerna di Gallarate, on March 19, 2010, acquired the name of the MAGA Museo Arte Gallarate  and inaugurates the new museum in Via De Magri, specially designed to showcase its collections and cultural activities.

MAGA is a centre of a network of cultural, artistic and tourist activities across the Lombardy region andhost major exhibitions that  involve the city and the whole province both culturally and economically. The Museum is seen as an indispensable instrument in the cultural growth of the citizens: its programmes are organized in synergy with the schools and cultural institutions operating in the territory.

The MAGA welcomes and endorses the latest image of the museum, interpreted and presented both as an institution with a distinctive identity. Its permanent collection is a vital tool of research and cultural enrichment for the general public, scholars and artists themselves, and as a place of social focus and relationships, the centre of large and diversified cultural services which support and amplify the permanent and temporary collections, and hence as a complex system of communication.