The New York Collection

The New York Collection for Stockholm was Pontus Hultén’s last major contribution to Moderna Museet – and his parting gift. He moved to Paris in 1974 to become the director of Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Georges Pompidou. The collection was initiated in 1971 by the Swedish engineer Billy Klüver, who was an active member of Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT), an independent forum for contemporary art in New York. Klüver wanted to compile a collection of key works by American and European artists who had worked in New York in the 1960s. He contacted Pontus Hultén to ask if Moderna Museet would be interested in such a collection. Thanks to intensive fundraising, and a print portfolio contributed to the collection by the artists themselves, the works eventually arrived at Moderna Museet in 1973.