The Rooseum
Rooseum was founded in 1988 by the Swedish art collector and financier Fredrik Roos (1951-1991), and has after Mr. Roos' death been governed by a foundation formed by the City of Malmö, Lill and Axel Roos, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. The main financiers are the City of Malmö, the Swedish Government and a group of sponsors. The museum director between 1988-89 was Anna Palmqvist, between 1990-95 Lars Nittve and between 1995-1999 Bo Nilsson. The director since 1 November, 2000 is Charles Esche.


The Building
The Rooseum is situated in Malmö, in the south of Sweden. The Rooseum galleries are in an attractive brick building in the center of the city. The building, erected in 1900 to house the steam turbines of Malmö Electricity Company, was designed by John Smedberg who studied with Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris Opera. John Smedberg came to Malmö in 1878 to teach at the Technical Elementary School. He was the first architect with an accurate education to be established in the city of Malmö, and was one of the first to form the new city in the era of industrialisation.
The building is inspired by Romanesque architecture which is to be seen in it´s powerfull exterior and has its special mark in the significant lightbulb at the corner of the building. In 1987 Architect Jan Holmgren, SAR, of White Architects started turning the old building into a magnificent art museum, well suited to its purpose. The exhibition space, a total of 1 500 square meters, is divided into three galleries with the impressive Turbine Hall (14,5 x 48,0 meters and 11 meters high) as its natural center.


The Fredrik Roos Nordic Collection
The Fredrik Roos Nordic Collection consists of more than 500 works, mostly paintings, but also sculptures and small number of important graphic works. The collection is not shown permanently at the Rooseum, but is kept in storage both in Malmö and in Stockholm. Some of the pieces can be seen at the Moderna Muséet in Stockholm and at specific places in Malmö, as the lobby of the Radisson SAS Hotel. Part of the collection has been exhibited at the Rooseum during the 1990s.