Ca l’Arenas sprang from the artistic legacy that Jordi Arenas i Clavell (Mataró, 1920 - 1998) to the city of his birth, coupled with the Mataró Town Hall’s desire to accept it. It is defined as an extension specialised in art and its dissemination which carries out the Museum’s fourth strand, with particular attention to the city’s artistic activity.

Since the facility opened in 2006, the exhibition discourse has revolved around a thematic strand which is updated every season. The items from the Museum’s collections, the exhibitions and the complementary activities all revolve around a unified discourse which is ultimately reflected in a publication. Some of the themes which have been examined include portraiture, travel, interiors, the endangered heritage, the sea, and different surveys of the city’s artistic and cultural scene.