The art collections of Uppsala University comprise approximately 7000 objects. Here you will find works of art in different techniques, ranging in age from the Middle Ages right up to today – paintings, sculpture, engravings, drawings, woven tapestries, carpets, furniture and objets d’art. The collection of European art from the Early Modern period is one of the largest in Sweden.
A major part of these collections is displayed on University premises that are used for administration, teaching and representation. For example, most of the extensive portrait collection hangs in University House.
Up until 1 May 2017, parts of the University’s collection of paintings and sculpture were shown at Uppsala Castle, through an arrangement with Uppsala Art Museum. This part of the collection has now been taken down, as part of a process of renewal centering on Gustavianum. The aim of this work is to find new ways of making more of the collection accessible to the public, partly through new exhibitions in the Gustavianum building. As part of this process of renewal, an art study room for the use of students and researchers opened at the Main University Buildning during 2018.
Gustavianum also cares for the house contents at Hammarby, Linnaeus’s country residence outside Uppsala.