The New Carlsberg Foundation is a private and independent foundation for the arts. The effort to foster and benefit the arts in the founders’ fatherland forms the core of the foundation’s charter, which was signed on 20 January 1902 by brewer Carl Jacobsen and his wife, Ottilia Jacobsen.
In this context, ‘arts’ is understood not only as pictorial arts but also includes industrial art, architecture and landscape gardening ‒ and in the broadest sense, that is, also where expressions from the pictorial arts connect with related art forms and contexts.
The foundation, whose charter and activities are still shaped by Carl Jacobsen’s passion and energy, aims to promote the role of art in Danish society, based on the conviction that art has the capacity to enrich human life and our world. The foundation wishes to be a dynamo in highlighting art as a force capable of promoting critical thinking and a nuanced worldview.
Foundation charter
In the charter, where the founders stated the purpose of the foundation in 1902, Carl Jacobsen did not impose overly tight restrictions on the work of the future caretakers of the foundation. However, there can be no changes to the main purpose of the foundation.
Over the years, the charter has thus undergone very few adjustments. The current charter was signed by the boards for the Carlsberg Foundation and the New Carlsberg Foundation in December 2023.
