Moderna Museet’s assignment includes promoting art history research, understanding of, and interest in, contemporary art, and researching the organisation’s collection. This involves making the large collection accessible, generating new knowledge that reflects the development of art, specifically from the year 1900 and onwards, that can provide new perspectives on today’s culture and society, providing material for future exhibitions and enhancing the day-to-day activities.

The collection, which comprises some 130,000 works, the earliest of which are photographs dating from the 1840s, is constantly being extended with contemporary art. The techniques span from photography, drawings and paintings, via sculptures, installations, films and video art, to Einar Hylander’s environmental construction.

It is essential to us to initiate collaborations with academic institutions, and to make this rich material available to the public and to scholars. The research is reported in a variety of media, including seminars, symposiums, articles and publications.

Moderna Museet does not have an independent research department. Instead, research is conducted within the department for Art and Learning. It is carried out by internal and external researchers as projects and is funded primarily by external sources.