ARKEN Museum of Modern Art (Danish: ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst) is a private non-for-profit charity, state authorized, contemporary art museum near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The museum was conceived and created by Copenhagen County.
The museum is located in the suburb-city Ishøj, close to the bay of Køge (Køge bugt), 20 kilometers south of Copenhagen. ARKEN was designed by the Danish architect Søren Robert Lund, in a distinctive architectural form. It was opened on 15 March 1996 by her majesty of Denmark, Queen Margrethe.
The museum re-opened in January 2008 after major refurbishing, which included an expansion providing an additional 50% of gallery-space.
The ARKEN museum features modern works by Danish, Scandinavian and international painters. The museum also has amassed a collection of around 400 post-war contemporary art pieces. These include works by artist such as Damien Hirst, Olafur Eliasson, Sherin Neshat[Shirin Neshat], Wolfgang Tillmans, and Danish / Norwegian duo Ingar Dragset and Michael Elmgreen.
Each year ARKEN awards the 'ARKENs kunstpris' prize of 100.000 Danish kroner to a contemporary artist.