Moderna Museet
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| Established | 1958 |
|---|---|
| Location | Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Type | Art museum |
Collection size |
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| Director | Gitte Ørskou |
Public transit access | Bus to Arkitektur-/Moderna museet |
| Website | www |





Moderna Museet (lit. 'the modern museum') is a state museum for modern and contemporary art and design, located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958.
History
[edit]After the original opening, in 2009, the museum also opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö, in a building that had housed the Rooseum centre for contemporary art.[2] The Moderna Museet in Stockholm has been the subject of scholarship on museum history, preservation, and institutional planning.[3]
Collection
[edit]The museum houses Swedish and international modern and contemporary art, including pieces by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, and a model of Tatlin's Tower. The museum's collection also includes key works by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Niki de Saint Phalle, Henri Matisse and Robert Rauschenberg,[4] as well as ongoing acquisitions by contemporary artists.[1]
On 8 November 1993, six works by Picasso and two by Georges Braque, totaling more than £40 million, were stolen from the museum in a coup in which the burglars came in through the roof by night, copying a method from the 1955 French film Rififi.[5] All six of the Picasso paintings and one of the Braque paintings have been recovered.[6]
Pontus Hultén Collection
[edit]In 2005, former museum director Pontus Hultén bequeathed over 700 works of art to Moderna Museet, along with his archive and library. A few works of the collection are on display with the museum's permanent collection; many others are exhibited in the purpose-built Pontus Hultén Study Gallery.[7]
Sculpture park
[edit]The museum has a sculpture park on the island with works by sculptors of diverse nationalities.[8]
- The Four Elements, Alexander Calder, 1961
- Le Paradis fantastique, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, 1966
- Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Pablo Picasso and Carl Nesjar, 1962
- Monumentalfigur, Christian Berg, 1927
- Monument över den sista cigaretten, Erik Dietman, 1975
- Lenin Monument April 13th 1917, Björn Lövin, 1977
- Mannen på templet, Bjørn Nørgaard, 1980
- Svart svensk granit, Ulrich Rückriem, 1981
- Pavilion Sculpture II, Dan Graham, 1984
- Louisa, Thomas M. Woodruff, 1987
- Freedom and Belief (their own affair), Joseph Kosuth, 1998
- No title, Per Kirkeby, 1999–2000
- Instabil, Lars Englund, 2005
- Närkontakt, Gustav Kraitz, 2008
Architecture
[edit]The museum was initially housed in Exercishuset on Skeppsholmen.[9]
From 1994 to 1998, it was temporarily moved to another location, the Spårvägshallarna,[10] in Stockholm while the new building on Skeppsholmen, designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, was built.[11] The Pontus Hultén Study Gallery was designed by Renzo Piano.
The museum shares its premises with the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design.
Activity
[edit]The museum organizes and is a venue for temporary contemporary art exhibitions throughout the year. In 2005, the museum hosted the onedotzero festival with the intention of attracting a new, younger audience to the museum with screenings, installations, talks and live VJ audio-visual events.[12]
Until 4 October 2026, Moderna Museet is presenting Brassaï. The Secret Signs of Paris, an exhibition on the Hungarian-French photographer’s depictions of Parisian street life, signs, graffiti, and nocturnal urban culture.[13]
Directors
[edit]- 1958–1973: Pontus Hultén[7]
- 1973–1977: Philip von Schantz
- 1977–1979: Karin Lindegren
- 1980–1989: Olle Granath
- 1989–1995: Björn Springfeldt
- 1996–2001: David Elliott
- 2001–2010: Lars Nittve
- 2010–2018: Daniel Birnbaum[14]
- 2018–2019: Ann-Sofi Noring (acting)[15]
- Since 2019: Gitte Ørskou[15][16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "Om samlingen". sis.modernamuseet.se. Moderna Museet. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ "Moderna Museet". malmo.se. Malmö Municipality. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ Burch, Stuart (2012). "Past Presents and Present Futures: Rethinking Sweden's Moderna Museet". Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism. 9 (2): 97–111. doi:10.5749/futuante.9.2.0097.
- ↑ McCormick, Seth (2011). "Fête in Venice". Art Journal. 70 (4): 113–116. JSTOR 23279535.
- ↑ Axedin, Annie; TT (12 November 2013). "Största konstkuppen inte helt löst". Södertörns Högskola. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ "Spektakulära konststölder genom tiderna" [Spectacular art thefts through the ages] (in Swedish). Barnebys Group AB. 29 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- 1 2 Pauli, Calle (10 November 2005). "Pontus Hultén donerar 700 verk till Moderna Museet". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ "Utomhusskulpturer på Skeppsholmen, Stockholm" (PDF). modernamuseet.se. Moderna Museet. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ "Exercishuset på Skeppsholmen". sfv.se. National Property Board of Sweden. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ Odefalk, Eva (27 December 1997). "Flyttfest". Dagens Nyheter. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ Moneo, Rafael; Mårtelius, Johan; Jewson, William; Lidman, Åke E:son (1998). Modern Museum and Swedish Museum of Architecture in Stockholm (in Swedish). Stockholm: Arkitektur. ISBN 91-87214-76-8.
- ↑ Jacobsson, Cecilia (13 January 2005). "Visuellt och utmanande på Moderna". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 5 June 2015.[dead link]
- ↑ "Brassaï. The Secret Signs of Paris". Moderna Museet. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- ↑ Rachlin, Natalja (12 June 2012). "In Stockholm, Stretching a Museum's Boundaries". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- 1 2 "Gitte Ørskou will be the new Director of Moderna Museet". Moderna Museet i Malmö. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- ↑ Barry, Salena; Ørskou, Gitte (12 April 2023). "To Tackle the Climate Crisis, Museums of the Future Must Get Creative". frieze.
External links
[edit]- Official website – in Swedish and English
