Swedish Acquisitions 2021

The mission to collect, care for, show and preserve art

Moderna Museet is a museum of international modern and contemporary art. Our mission is to collect, care for, show and preserve art for the future. We collect both historical works and art by practising artists, from Sweden and the rest of the world. Our ambition is to achieve a broad and representative selection of the finest art and key works by artists, without limitations in the form of size, materials, complexity or similar factors.

Acquisitions of works by living Swedish artists

Swedish Acquisitions 2021 will focus exclusively on purchasing art by Swedish living artists. By Swedish art we mean artists, regardless of nationality, who can be said to practise mainly in Sweden, including Sápmi; and Swedish artists whose practice is based in several countries.

The guidelines for Swedish Acquisitions 2021 are the same as for any other acquisitions for the collection. But SEK 25 million in extra funding gives us a fantastic and unprecedented opportunity to broaden the representation of Swedish art. Normally, the annual allocation is around SEK 2.1 million.

Research and local expertise from the entire country

The director of Moderna Museet, the curators of the collection and the director of Moderna Museet Malmö will together select the works to be acquired. To help us in this assignment, we will gather information systematically and methodically through our own research and from local expertise in every national region. We will also participate in the digital portfolio presentations organised by the Public Art Agency Sweden and the art consultancy organisation Konstkonsulterna.

Suggestions received

Practising artists, gallerists and exhibition organisers could submit proposals for acquisitions between 15 March and 30 April, 2021.

Decisions on new acquisitions

We are currently deciding which works to acquire. Works that are acquired through Swedish Acquisitions 2021 will be added to the collection in the same way as all other acquisitions. We will report over the year on all new acquisitions, and will present them in an exhibition at Moderna Museet in 2022.

Artists whose works have been purchased for the Moderna Museet collection within the framework of Swedish Acquisitions 2021 are listed here: Purchased for Swedish Acquisitions 2021 (pdf)