Swedish and Nordic art

The Swedish and Nordic section of Moderna Museet's collection of sculptures, paintings and installations now comprises some 3,700 works, of which some 350 are from our neighbouring Nordic countries. The intention with the collection of Swedish works is to provide a broad and representative picture of developments in art from 1900 to today.

The government resources for actively acquiring Swedish contemporary art have fluctuated over the years. In the first half of the 1900s, special funds were earmarked for procurement of works by Swedish artists. When Moderna Museet opened in 1958, art was transferred from the Nationalmuseum collection. Works by artists born after 1870 - i.e. work deemed as "modern" - formed the base of the new museum's collection of modern art. Around the same time, the Föreningen för nutida konst (Association for Contemporary Art, now the Friends of Moderna Museet) donated an exceptional collection of 150 works of modern Scandinavian art to the museum. Another facet of the Moderna Museet collection originates in cultural policy commitments, such as Konstnärshjälpen (the Artist Fund), which existed between 1922 and 1926 and used surplus lottery funds to buy art that eventually ended up in the museum collection.

Today, the Moderna Museet collection of Swedish art is extended in various ways, including purchases from galleries and auctions and directly from the artists. An invaluable contribution to the collection is made by large and small donations from private individuals and corporations.