With a unique location in Copenhagen’s historic centre, near tourist attractions, the harbour boats, design companies and galleries, Designmuseum Danmark is a working archive and the entrance to Denmark as a design destination. Experience one of the world’s largest collections of Danish design, counting works by Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, Verner Panton and Hans Wegner. In addition, the collections cover applied art and design from Art Nouveau to contemporary Danish design and include glass, ceramics, fashion, textile and poster art.
The museum, situated right next to Amalienborg, is one of the finest examples of rococo architecture in Copenhagen. It offers thematic design exhibitions, special events, guided tours and workshops.
Visitors are also invited to explore our beautiful garden, the café with indoor and outdoor service, the museum shop, and library.
New permanent exhibition: DANISH MODERN
Danish design is known and loved – both at home and abroad. But what led to its success, which designs are central, and who are the major Danish designers of the 20th century? The exhibition 'Danish Modern' unfolds the story of Danish design from the 1920s to the 1970s, focusing on the creation of some of the most iconic Danish design objects.
Special exhibitions: The Power of Print - May 22 2025 — January 04 2026In the summer of 2025, The Power of Print opens, showcasing textiles from the greatest Danish fabric printers throughout history, and displaying new textiles from a select group of the most talented fabric printers of our time. The exhibition tells the story of an overlooked area in Danish craftsmanship and design, and for the first time, the lavish collection of Danish printed textiles from Designmuseum Danmark is presented on such a large scale.
Photo: Lukas Bukoven
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: Visit Copenhagen
Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of the largest and most beautiful exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Northern Europe
The exhibition space presents an ambitious program with international outlook featuring talents as well as established stars from both Denmark and abroad. Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents uncompromising and agenda setting art still understandable for everyone.
The trendsetting exhibition program is supplemented with a large number of activities like artist talks, performances, concerts and film screenings.
Ever since Kunsthal Charlottenborg opened in 1883, the venue has hosted exhibitions featuring many of the leading contemporary artists of the given times, accommodating many different types of shows and activities. Charlottenborg now celebrates its long history with a large-scale exhibition featuring all-new and older works alike. Together, they will evoke and add nuance to the history of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, a venue without a collection or a historical archive. Embracing chaos, affinities and time glitches, the exhibition Full of Days forges intuitive connections between historical moments and less-remembered shows, stories and events. Through a cacophony of voices, contemporary and historical artists are framed into a reflection on the elusiveness of time and the multiplicity of its representations, offering a non-linear account of one the Kunsthal’s possible histories.
Special Exhibithions (Kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk):
Banu Cennetoğlu - BEING SAFE IS SCARY 19 mar – 10 aug 2025:
Look forward to the first solo exhibition in Denmark by the Istanbul-based artist Banu Cennetoğlu. Through a series of works, the exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg moves from societal issues to more intimate spheres. Critical investigations of the daily press, the migration flows through Europe and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are brought to dialogue with an extensive private image archive, connecting the small and large events of everyday life with urgent global issues.
Cennetoğlu is interested in how the production and distribution of text- and image-based information contributes to shaping our world. Her practice often involves extensive collecting, cataloguing and archiving of materials, which subsequently manifest in carefully composed works with wide-reaching perspectives. By processing various types of textual and visual materials, she examines the function of such signs, their politics of memory, and the underlying interests or power structures they reveal.
Disobedience Archive 19 mar – 10 aug 2025:
Dive into an expansive collection of video works that map out various artistic strategies of resistance – and apply a rich diversity of historical, geographical, and social perspectives. Disobedience Archive explores the relationship between art and political action by examining how struggles for resistance are translated into moving images, thereby creating a form of artistic visual activism.
The archive consists of a comprehensive and continuously growing collection of films chronicling nearly fifty years of social struggles across different parts of the world: from Italy’s Parco Lambro revolt in 1977 and the anti-globalisation protests of the 1990s, to the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, as well as battles for labour rights in Southeast Asia, global climate protests, struggles for LGBTQ+ and migrant rights, and demands for decolonisation among Europe’s former colonies. By connecting otherwise separate justice movements, the archive makes it possible to view them within a broader political context across time and place.
Disobedience Archive is curated by Marco Scotini and has been presented at institutions worldwide since 2005, most recently at the Venice Biennale in 2024.
Charlottenborg Art Books
The independent bookstore offers a distinctive selection of books and magazines, including publications in the fields of fine art, critical design, typography, literature, and theory.
Apollo Bar & Canteen
Apollo Bar & Canteen are Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s bar and dining place by chef and creator Frederik Bille Brahe. Every weekday from Tuesday to Friday, you can enjoy a healthy and delicious lunch at the canteen, and all week you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or an exciting dinner or just a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or a drink at the bar next to the courtyard.
Related Attractions
ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art in Ishøj south of Copenhagen presents exhibitions with Danish, Nordic and international art – from new, young talents to established names
ARKEN is a great and monumental building situated in the artificial landscape Køge Bay Beach south of Copenhagen. The museum has one of Scandinavia's finest collections of contemporary art, and the museum's maritime architecture with the pointed stern, which majestically protudes into the terrain, has won recognition both at home and abroad since its inaugaration in 1996.
ARKEN's collection contains more than 400 works - Danish, Nordic and international contemporary art primarly from the period after 1990. The museum houses, among other things, one of Europe's most important collections of the British artist Damien Hirst. Experience the museum's evolving sculpture park, nine works by acclaimed German artist Anselm Reyle as well as a magnificent masterpiece by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Distinctive architecture The museum building is an attraction in itself. With its scenic location on Kunstens Ø, or ‘Art Island’, the building, designed by the architect Søren Robert Lund, resembles a beached ship. A lagoon meanders its way around the museum, with several bridges linking the museum island with the surrounding beach area.
The museum café hangs like a lifeboat on the side of the building and through the large panoramic windows overlooks Køge Bay.The museum shop is the area's leading design shop with an inspiring mix of Nordic design, art books, and gift items.
From the 6/2-25 until 21/9-25: ALL WALKS OF LIFE by Frederik Næblerød (arken.dk)
ARKEN opens in 2025 the largest solo exhibition to date with the Danish artist Frederik Næblerød (b. 1988). He is known for his uncompromising art, where he challenges with great creative power our accustomed understanding of painting and sculpture in a raw, energetic and playful style.With his works ranging from painting, ceramics, bronze and drawing to large-scale installations, he has created a very special artistic universe that invites us inside into the spontaneous, absurd and humorous. The exhibition at ARKEN will be an intense and sensual encounter with Frederik Næblerød's art.
The exhibition is full of surprising spaces, and on the way around you get very close to the artist and his gaze on the contemporary. Frederik Næblerød unfolds a unique, humorous and boundary-breaking idiom in his works, which are sampled from science fiction, myths, dreams and images that he sees in everyday life. Næblerød creates art out of a great inner necessity, and at ARKEN there is an exhibition where art and life flow together.
Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) is Copenhagen’s international art center showing installation art created by world stars and new emerging talents
It occupies the magnificent former B&W welding hall offering a total of 7,000 m2 of beautiful industrial halls with plenty of space to show the technical and large formats in which many contemporary artists work: total installations, performance art, and monumental video works. Art that can often be entered and sensed with the whole body.
Copenhagen Contemporary is one of Scandinavia’s largest exhibition venues for contemporary art and a lively meeting place for a wide audience. CC creates collaborative partnerships and organises events with a number of different partners across cultural genres locally and internationally. You can attend art talks, art walks, concerts, creative workshops for children, visit CC’s own shop offering Scandinavian design, and experience the unique and historical city district of Refshaleøen.
Situated centrally in B&W’s iconic welding hall, CC is an international power hub in Copenhagen’s new cultural district. The special quality of this area continues to be defined by its industrial history: the area is raw and green with commanding views across Copenhagen Harbour. The district is a mix of first-class gourmet restaurants and small entrepreneurial initiatives; you can go for a dip in the sea, for a sauna, enjoy a glass of wine, and eat grilled food, buy quality bread and visit Copenhagen’s most popular food market with stalls from across the world and lounge areas by the water’s edge. Not forgetting the climbing, skating,and skiing activities, the flea market, and the theatre and music festivals, which are just some of the many activities this area has to offer.
Exhibtions (copenhagencontemporary.org):
Marta Minujín: Intensify Life, 11.10.24 - 21.4.25The major exhibition of the autumn at CC will be Europe’s first retrospective of the groundbreaking Argentine pop artist Marta Minujín.Marta Minujín (b. 1943) is an iconic figure and one of the most prominent Latin American pop and conceptual artists of all time. Over the past 60 years, she has developed happenings, performances, installations, and video works that have influenced generations of contemporary artists in Latin America, the USA, and Europe.The exhibition at CC unfolds Minujín’s life’s work across periods and geography, showcasing several of her most recent pieces, including gigantic installations, soft sculptures, and large collage paintings covered in Minujín’s iconic neon stripes and illuminated with video projections. Thanks to CC’s close collaboration with the artist, the audience will also have the unique opportunity to explore archival material that highlights some of the most central parts of Minujín’s work from her over 60-year-long career.
Nikolaj Kunsthal presents especially Danish, but also international contemporary art in unique historical surroundings in the middle of Copenhagen.
Nikolaj Kunsthal is located in the former St. Nikolaj Church, Copenhagen’s third oldest church with one of the tallest towers in the city – a unique setting for contemporary art Europe-wide. The beautiful architecture is part of an interaction with changing exhibitions, most recently by Ditte Ejlerskov, Nikoline Liv Andersen, David Lynch, HuskMitNavn, Leonard Cohen and others. Nikolaj Kunsthal focuses on Copenhagen’s contemporary art scene and is preoccupied with art meetings across genres, media and formats. The art centre also regularly presents concerts, performances, guided tours, dinners, talks, etc.
Exhibitions (nikolajkunsthal.kk.dk): Breaking Darkness - 8 February - 27 July 2025Drawing inspiration from Lars von Trier’s oeuvre, Nikolaj Kunsthal will be transformed into a total installation for the upcoming exhibition season. The exhibition blurs the boundaries between visual art and film, creating a sensory experience
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art is a must see in Copenhagen for anyone interested in art and architecture.
Den Frie is closed between exhibitions. Please check the website before going.
Den Frie was founded by artists in 1898 and is one of the oldest venues for contemporary art in Denmark. It is in itself a unique and very beautiful wooden building designed by famous artist J.F. Willumsen.
Den Frie’s fundamental aim is to present the very latest in contemporary art. We host exhibitions by national and international artists, all of which address current issues. The extensive programme of exhibitions and events are evidence of Den Frie’s role as an active platform for living art and
art production, and the commitment to contribute to contemporary existence.
With its relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, Den Frie is also a popular meeting place for artists, students, tourists and the many locals who pass by. As a visitor you’ll feel welcome and enjoy having your interest in contemporary art stimulated, whether you’re an art connoisseur or a beginner. On top of which the architecture alone is well worth a visit.
Den Frie also houses the café, Polykrom, where you can enjoy a delicious lunch or a well-made cup of coffee.
Exhibotions (denfrie.dk):
OSLO: Amy O’Neill: This’s and that’s 07.02.25 — 04.05.25:This’s and that’s is American artist Amy O’Neill’s first institutional exhibition in Denmark produced in collaboration with artist Gianna Surangkanjanajai and curator Line Ebert. Inside the skeletal and reshaped structure of the previous OSLO show, a cinematic tableau of quilts, garments, and figures holding poses fills the exhibition space.
Welcome to Gammel Strand
A UNIQUE PLACE FOR ART LOVERSIn the heart of Copenhagen’s historical district right by the canalside lies Gammel Strand, an art institution focusing on modern and contemporary art. Gammel Strand showcases 6-8 exhibitions annually focusing on new Danish talent, the international contemporary art scene and artists art-historical themes in a present-day perspective. Gammel Strand is a locally rooted, internationally oriented art centre and cultural hub in the heart of Copenhagen. The exhibition program presents art that takes a critical and nuanced approach to the present and focuses on the big questions of the time – from the intimately personal to global dilemmas. Gammel Strand is also a platform for conversations, debates, and activities that bring people, art, and culture together in new communities.
In connection with the series of exhibitions Gammel Strand regularly presents a perspectivizing programme of events involving talks and debates, literature readings, concerts and guided tours.
Visitors can also enjoy a break in the café with the charming courtyard, and buy art books, posters, and design items in the shop.
North Atlantic House is an art center where you can encounter North Atlantic art and culture. Here, people and artists from Iceland, Greenland, The Faroe Islands, Denmark - and the rest of the world - meet and inspire one another.
A visit to North Atlantic House is guaranteed to expand your horizon and stir your senses. You will find two exhibition rooms in which you can get a taste of North Atlantic culture through changing exhibitions, that shed light on the art scene of each of the three countries, in turn.
Furthermore, on specific days and evenings, you can experience everything from concerts, movies, presentations and events.
Explore North Atlantic art and culture in the beautiful warehouse from the 1700s. Built in 1767, North Atlantic House was the port for maritime traffic between Denmark and the North Atlantic for over 200 years.
Special Exhibitions (nordatlantens.dk):
Art and music from 1/3 to 24/8:
Music has tones, and visual art has colour tones. We use the term ‘compose’ about paintings and pieces of music alike. A ‘suite’ can be a series of artworks or a set of musical pieces composed around the same theme. Language itself has many overlaps between visual art and music. This exhibition explores various dialogues and exchanges between visual art and music.
Art and Music is an adapted version of the exhibition Tónar í list, curated by and shown at Listasavn Føroya (The National Gallery of the Faroe Islands) in 2023–24. The exhibition focuses particularly on the interplay between visual art and music within the Faroese cultural scene.
Music is, and has long been, a source of inspiration for countless artists and their production of works. Similarly, numerous musical pieces have been inspired by visual art. Visual art has also played a central role in the creation of album covers and music videos.
The exhibition presents works of visual art that engage in direct and indirect dialogues with music. It also showcases works by practitioners who are both musicians and visual artists, as well as works where the distinction between the two art forms becomes impossible to uphold.
Nordic food
Visit the cultural centre to get your own first-hand impression of this intriguing harbour front area. The North Atlantic House is open all year round and offers a lovely café where you can enjoy a good glass of wine or a cup of coffee.
On the Nordatlantens Brygge Harbour Front you will find the Faroese and Greenlandic Representations, the Icelandic Embassy, and the culinary treasures of Restaurant Barr.
Opening Hours
02.04.2025 - 10.08.2025:Monday: closed
Tuesday: 12:00 - 20:00
Wednesday: 12:00 - 20:00
Thursday: 12:00 - 20:00
Friday: 12:00 - 20:00
Saturday: 11:00 - 17:00
Sunday: 11:00 - 17:00
Location
Kongens Nytorv 1
1050 København K
http://www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk
Bar
Café
Wheelchair Accessible