Kunsten

Why it is renowned

Lonely Planet sends visitors to Kunsten as Aalborg's museum of modern art, for Alvar Aalto's building and for works by Picasso, Fernand Léger, Niki de Saint Phalle and Asger Jorn.¹ It is the only museum building Aalto designed outside Finland.² The collection holds more than 4,000 works, most made after 1900, by Danish and foreign artists.²

The story

Aalborg's art museum goes back to the 1870s.² Alvar and Elissa Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël won the Nordic architectural competition for a new building in 1958, from 144 entries; for want of money, building began only in 1966, and the museum was inaugurated on 8 June 1972.³ It was called Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum until 2008.³ The building is clad in white marble, which continues on the floors inside, and Aalto also designed its lamps.² After a renovation that replaced 317 tonnes of Italian marble, the museum reopened in January 2016, and for its 50th anniversary it opened a permanent exhibition on Aalto.²⁴

What to know it by

• The museum building²1972Alvar Aalto, Elissa Aalto and Jean-Jacques BaruëlWhite marble, skylit galleries
• Aalto – Architect and Artist⁴2022Permanent exhibition on Alvar Aalto
• Nana with Ball¹Niki de Saint PhalleSculpture in the collection
• Two Women Parting After a Chat³1890J.F. WillumsenPainting in the collection