STATENS MUSEUM FOR KUNST

Their core work

Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) is Denmark's national gallery and a research-active institution that investigates historical artworks through scientific and art-historical methods. Their research applies multi-disciplinary examination — including technical imaging, materials analysis, and archival study — to understand the physical composition, provenance, and history of paintings in European collections. Through IPERION CH, they contributed to a pan-European research infrastructure that gives scholars access to advanced analytical instruments for cultural heritage. Their NePLeP project demonstrated capacity to lead original collection-based research, studying approximately 600 Netherlandish paintings at Ledreborg Palace to establish attribution, condition, and historical context.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early part of their H2020 engagement (2015–2017), SMK focused on heritage science as infrastructure — joining the IPERION CH consortium to build shared analytical capacity across European institutions. By 2017, they stepped into a coordinator role for NePLeP, shifting toward applying that scientific expertise to a specific collection-based research question about Netherlandish paintings. The trajectory moves from broad infrastructure participation toward focused, institution-led research projects, though with only two projects the evidence base is too thin to claim a firm long-term trend.

SMK appears to be building toward leading its own targeted research projects rooted in its collection, suggesting future collaboration opportunities around specific artworks, periods, or analytical questions rather than broad infrastructure roles.

How they like to work

SMK operates both as a consortium participant in large pan-European networks (IPERION CH had 28 partners across 13 countries) and as a project coordinator for focused, collection-specific research. The contrast suggests they are comfortable scaling their involvement to match the ambition of the work — joining large infrastructure platforms when shared capacity is needed, and leading smaller specialist projects when the research question is close to their collection. Partners choosing to work with SMK are likely getting a museum that brings unique object-level access alongside scientific and art-historical research capability.

SMK has collaborated with 28 unique partners spread across 13 countries, a notably wide network for an institution with only two recorded H2020 projects. This breadth reflects their membership in IPERION CH, a large infrastructure consortium, and suggests they are well connected within the European heritage science community.

What sets them apart

As Denmark's national gallery, SMK brings something most research institutions cannot: direct custodial access to a significant national art collection, including Netherlandish and Dutch paintings. This gives research projects grounded in physical objects — rather than hypothetical case studies — genuine authenticity and scale. For consortium builders working on cultural heritage, digitization, conservation science, or art-historical AI, SMK offers both scientific research capability and an unmatched collection as a living test bed.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NePLeP
  SMK served as coordinator — their only leadership role in H2020 — for a multi-disciplinary study of approximately 600 Netherlandish paintings, an unusually large and focused collection-based research effort.
• IPERION CH
  Participation in a major pan-European research infrastructure project (P1-INFRA pillar) that connected SMK to 28 partners across 13 countries in the heritage science field.