The National Museum of Photography is based on the part of the collection of the Department of Maps, Pictures and Photographs (of the Royal Library in Copenhagen) – pictures which because of either their artistic value or their photo historical importance differed from the Picture Collection’s otherwise predominantly documentary culture-historical pictures.

The collection dates right back to the invention of photography in 1839, its main feature being photographs from the 1800’s, both Danish and international. But it also abounds in important works from the 20th century, just as the latest contemporary art is represented.

The raison d'être of the museum is the collection. All exhibitions are based on it, either as a pure collection exhibition based on a theme, a genre, a place or one individual photographer, or because aspects of the collection are highlighted via loans from artists or institutions at home and abroad.

The collection at The National Museum of Photography
The National Museum of Photography’s collection contains about 50,000 works, divided into Danish photography, foreign photography and several special collections.

The collection also boasts the largest amount of daguerreotypes in Scandinavia and a large collection of so-called ‘bums’ that also contain photographs pasted into books.
Since the invention of photography in 1839, photographs have been included in The Royal Library's collections, first as pasted-in photographs in printed Danish books which were submitted to the library according to the Act on Legal Deposit. Subsequent donations and acquisitions helped augment the photograph collection, which in 1902 became part of the then newly established Department of Maps and Pictures. From the beginning of the 1950s, radical efforts were made to acquire photographs, and the collection grew astronomically under the leadership of the country’s first photo historian, Bjørn Ochner. Today we distinguish between the cultural/historical collection of about 18 million works and the more exclusive photo museum collection. The Royal Library also holds the country’s largest collection of negatives.

The National Museum of Photography is, however, much more than a place for display. Due to its position in The Black Diamond , the museum is also entitled to use an excellent study hall, Centre for Maps and Pictures, which it shares with the Department of Maps, Pictures and Photographs. Here one has direct access to reference works on photography as well as a documentation and newspaper archive which contains information on Danish and foreign photographers. The reading room also functions as study hall, where researchers and others have the chance to study the original photographic works in the collection.

Extra information:
Kunstindeks Danmark / Art index Denmark is the central register of artworks and artists in the collections of Danish state-owned and state-subsidised museums. It is now possible to search the photographic works in the database.

Director of the museum is Erland Kolding Nielsen