About the Moderna Museet

Moderna Museet has one of the world’s finest collections of 20th and 21st century art. The photography collection goes back as far as 1840. Moderna Museet is commissioned to collect, preserve, exhibit and organise learning activities relating to all forms of 20th and 21st century art.

Moderna Museet in Stockholm originally opened on 9 May, 1958, in what used to be a drill hall on Skeppsholmen. The Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the new building for Moderna Museet, after winning an international competition for the assignment. The new building was inaugurated, according to plan, in connection with Stockholm Cultural Capital in 1998. The event took place on 12 February, 1998.

Moderna Museet Malmö opened on 26 December, 2009.

Daniel Birnbaum, Museum Director
Ann-Sofi Noring, Co-Director
Photo: Åsa Lundén/Moderna Museet

The Moderna Museet shall

Show how art relates to the development of society and art from earlier periods.

Promote artistic and cultural regeneration.

Promote knowledge in art history and understanding and interest in contemporary art.

Preserve, catalogue and research the Moderna Museet collection and procure new works to enhance it.

Make the collection accessible to the public, organise exhibitions and learning activities, and operate lending and deposition activities.

Research other government-owned or government-funded art collections.

Promote international contacts by organising exhibitions of Swedish contemporary art abroad, and be responsible for Swedish participation in international art biennials.

Photo: Åsa Lundén/Moderna Museet