The title complex, C8H6O4.2C6H7N, consists of two crystallographically independent 1:2 clusters of benzene-1,3-dicarboxylic acid and 4-methylpyridine. Each cluster, the components of which are linked by O-H...N hydrogen bonds, is almost planar by alignment of C-H...O hydrogen bonds. Herring-bone ribbons of clusters are formed by other C-H...O hydrogen bonds, and these ribbons are further packed to form a laminar structure by pi-pi interactions.