The Hirschsprung Collection

What The Hirschsprung Collection does

The Hirschsprung Collection (Den Hirschsprungske Samling) is a Danish state art museum founded in 1911 in Copenhagen from the bequest of tobacco manufacturer Heinrich Hirschsprung and his wife Pauline. It is a government entity under the Danish Ministry of Culture, not a commercially traded enterprise, and operates a single physical site at Stockholmsgade 20, Copenhagen Ø. The museum curates and displays Danish art from approximately 1800 to 1910, featuring more than 500 works by Golden Age painters (C.W. Eckersberg, Christen Købke), Skagen Painters (P.S. Krøyer, Anna Ancher), and Symbolists (L.A. Ring, Vilhelm Hammershøi).

The institution operates a multi-component technical and cultural platform. Its core cultural offering is the permanent collection displayed in the original 1911 building. Supporting technology infrastructure includes a publicly accessible digital archive (arkiv.hirschsprung.dk) holding over 25,000 digitized artist letters and documents, including approximately 6,500 letters to/from first director Emil Hannover. Additional digital systems include an online ticket booking platform (billet.hirschsprung.dk), a high-resolution photo ordering system with tiered pricing for private/academic/commercial use, and Plausible Analytics for GDPR-compliant web analytics. The museum also presents two major special exhibitions per year (current: Hanna Hirsch Pauli, Feb-Aug 2026; upcoming: Fynboerne, Sep 2026-Jan 2027) and runs ongoing curatorial research projects.

The revenue model is diversified across six streams: one-time admission fees (110 DKK adults, 75 DKK youth under 29, free for under-18s and art history students), recurring annual passes (150-450 DKK across four tiers), photography and image licensing (variable by usage and print run), on-site museum shop retail (books, ceramics, clothing, jewelry), guided tours and educational programs (550-1,200 DKK for groups), and artwork loans to other institutions (4,950 DKK per work internationally). Operating geographies are primarily Denmark, with international reach through art loans and a trilingual (DA/EN/DE) website. The museum is supported by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces and private foundations including Ny Carlsberg Foundation, Augustinus Fonden, and the Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation.

Name

The Hirschsprung Collection

Legal name

Den Hirschsprungske Samling

Website

https://hirschsprung.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1911

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Hirschsprung Collection (Den Hirschsprungske Samling) is a Danish state art museum in Copenhagen, founded in 1911, displaying 500+ works of 19th-century Danish art by Golden Age, Skagen, and Symbolist painters, supported by government appropriations and private foundations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Museum Services

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums (71211), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Archives, Special Collections & Preservation Operations (Rare Materials, Conservation) (EDAEAGAJ), Art, Photography & Illustrated Books Publishing (MPAJAAAF)

Keywords

• Art museum services
• Danish fine art collection
• Museum guided tours
• Art education programs
• Artwork lending and licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Copenhagen

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Admission Fees: Visitors pay admission fees: 110 DKK adults, 75 DKK youth under 29, free for children under 18, art history students, and annual pass holders.
2. Annual Passes: Annual memberships sold at various price points: 150 DKK youth, 295 DKK single, 400 DKK senior couple, 450 DKK 1+1 with companion. Provides free access and special event invitations.
3. Photo Licensing: Revenue from licensing high-resolution photographs of artworks for academic, commercial, and private use. Fees vary by print run and usage type.
4. Museum Shop Sales: Retail sales of art books, ceramics, clothing, jewelry, crafts, postcards, and posters. Shop open during museum hours.
5. Guided Tours and Educational Programs: Revenue from school tours (550 DKK) and private group tours (950-1200 DKK plus admission fees per participant).
6. Artwork Loans to Other Institutions: International loan fee of 4,950 DKK per work, plus preparation and shipping costs. Domestic loan fee is 600 DKK per work.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Hirschsprung Collection is a Danish state art museum presenting over 500 works of 19th-century Danish art, including masterpieces by Golden Age painters C.W. Eckersberg and Christen Købke, the Skagen Painters P.S. Krøyer and Anna Ancher, and Symbolists L.A. Ring and Vilhelm Hammershøi. It offers guided tours, curriculum-aligned school programs, a museum shop, photography and image licensing, artwork lending to other institutions, and research access to a digitized archive of more than 25,000 artist letters and documents.

Product overview

The Hirschsprung Collection (Den Hirschsprungske Samling) is a state art museum in Copenhagen dedicated to Danish art from the 19th century and early 20th century. The museum's core offering is the permanent collection featuring works by Golden Age painters (C.W. Eckersberg, Christen Købke), the Skagen Painters (P.S. Krøyer, Anna Ancher), and Symbolists (L.A. Ring, Vilhelm Hammershøi). Supporting services include guided tours (45-60 minutes), school learning programmes aligned with Danish curricula, a museum shop, photography and image licensing, art lending to other institutions, and archive access for research purposes. The museum presents two major special exhibitions annually alongside its permanent collection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Hirschsprung Collection (Permanent Collection) An art museum in Copenhagen presenting Danish art from the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, featuring works by Golden Age painters such as C.W. Eckersberg and Christen Købke, the Skagen Painters including P.S. Krøyer and Anna Ancher, and Symbolists like L.A. Ring and Vilhelm Hammershøi. Targeted at visitors, researchers, and educational groups.
• Guided Tours (Omvisninger) Museum-guided tours lasting 45-60 minutes covering themes such as Danish Golden Age, the Skagen Painters, Hammershøi and Symbolists, and special exhibitions. Targeted at private groups and the general public.
• School Learning Programmes Dialogue-based educational programmes for primary, secondary, and upper-secondary schools exploring subjects including the Danish Golden Age, Romanticism, the Modern Breakthrough, and Symbolism, aligned with Danish educational curricula. Targeted at Danish schools.
• Museum Shop On-site gift shop selling art books, ceramics, clothing, jewelry, crafts, postcards, and posters, offering 10% discount for annual pass holders. Targeted at museum visitors and gift buyers.
• Photography and Image Licensing Reproduction of artworks for private individuals, public institutions, and businesses, with pricing based on print run, placement (inside pages, front cover, back cover), and commercial versus non-commercial use. Targeted at researchers, publishers, and commercial users.
• Art Lending Loaning of artworks to museums and exhibition venues for shorter periods, with a processing time of 6 months and loan fees of DKK 4,950 per work for international borrowers. Targeted at museums and exhibition venues worldwide.
• Archive Access Access to the museum's archive containing over 25,000 artist letters and documents, including Emil Hannover correspondence, with parts digitally accessible through the digitalized archive portal at arkiv.hirschsprung.dk. Targeted at researchers and art historians.
• Annual Pass Membership Annual memberships sold at multiple price points (150 DKK youth, 295 DKK single, 400 DKK senior couple, 450 DKK 1+1 with companion) providing free entry all year and special event invitations. Targeted at repeat museum visitors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Free admission for all school groups supporting educational access

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered supporting, core and major.

• L.A. Ring Family (Descendants)supportingOthers · 1 January 2018Major donation of photographs, letters, and archival material belonging to painter L.A. Ring, including drawings by his wife Sigrid Kähler. Material placed on permanent loan.
• Danish Jewish MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on the 'Nordic Art - Jewish Heart' research project examining Jewish art collectors and cultural patrons in Nordic countries 1870-1930. Examines the Hirschsprung family's role alongside other Jewish families like the Fürstenbergs and Thiels.
• Swedish Researchers (Various)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partners from Sweden collaborating on the Nordic Art - Jewish Heart project to uncover overlooked cultural history connecting Jewish culture and national identity in Denmark and Sweden.
• Gecko BookingsupportingTechnology or IntegrationExternal booking partner handling online booking for guided tours and educational programs. Data processing agreement in place per GDPR requirements.
• Kunstmuseum BrandtsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner for 'Fynboerne' exhibition. Original version shown at Brandts in 2023; this is an updated version for Hirschsprung.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Designmuseum Danmark: Copenhagen design museum and Parkmuseerne partner with similar operating scale and visitor demographic. Comparable as a small state-subsidized specialist museum sharing the same distribution partnership.
• Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek: Copenhagen art museum with comparable focus on 19th-century and Danish Golden Age art, located in central Copenhagen and part of the Parkmuseerne partnership. Directly comparable operating model as a small specialist museum with curated collections.
• Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: Denmark's leading art museum and a major Nordic cultural destination. Comparable as a Danish art museum with strong educational programming, museum shop, and international visitor base, though focused on modern rather than 19th-century art.
• ARKEN Museum of Modern Art: Danish state-subsidized art museum with similar operating model and Parkmuseerne-adjacent positioning. Comparable as a national art museum competing for the same school groups, tourists, and cultural funding.
• Kunstmuseum Brandts: Danish art museum that previously hosted the original 'Fynboerne' exhibition, with which Hirschsprung has direct collaboration. Comparable as a Danish regional art museum focused on 19th and early 20th-century art.
• Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark): Denmark's national art museum with substantial holdings of Danish Golden Age and 19th-century art. Shares the same visitor market in Copenhagen, same state-museum funding model, and overlapping collection periods.

Regional players

• Nationalmuseum (Sweden): Sweden's national art museum with parallel Nordic 19th-century art holdings and similar state-museum operating model. Comparable as a Nordic counterpart with overlapping collection periods and academic collaboration potential (already engaged on 'Nordic Art - Jewish Heart').
• KODE Art Museums: Norwegian art museum group with significant holdings of Nordic 19th-century and Golden Age art, including Skagen painters. Comparable collection focus and Nordic art-historical mission, though serving a different national audience.
• Nasjonalgalleriet (Norwegian National Gallery): Norway's national art museum with holdings of Nordic 19th-century art including Skagen painters. Comparable as a Nordic national museum sharing similar collection scope, though now consolidated into the larger Nasjonalmuseet.

Broad incumbents

• Musée d'Orsay: Iconic Paris museum dedicated to art from 1848-1914 — a closely parallel collection period. Comparable as a major 19th-century-focused art museum, though at vastly larger scale and with broader global visitor reach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/den-hirschsprungske-samling

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Hirschsprung Collection