# Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Danish: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark.

## History

The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Copenhagen was inaugurated on 31 March 1754, and given as a gift to the King Frederik V on his 31st birthday.
Its name was changed to the Royal Danish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in 1771. At the same event, Johann Friedrich Struensee introduced a new scheme in the academy to encourage artisan apprentices to take supplementary classes in drawing so as to develop the notion of "good taste". The building boom resulting from the Great Fire of 1795 greatly profited from this initiative.
In 1814 the name was changed again, this time to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is still situated in its original building, the Charlottenborg Palace, located on the Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The School of Architecture has been situated in former naval buildings on Holmen since 1996.
It teaches and conducts research on the subjects of painting, sculpting, architecture, graphics, photography, performance, and video, as well as in the history of those subjects.
The academy is under the administration of the Danish Ministry of Culture.
The School of Architecture, Design and Conservation is separated from Schools of Visual arts and therefore is a different institution(KADK)

## Institutions

* Kunstakademiets Billedkunstskoler, The School of Visual Arts
* Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole, The School of Architecture
* Kunstakademiets Designskole, The School of Design
* Kunstakademiets Konservatorskole, The School of Conservation
* Det Kongelige Akademi for de Skønne Kunster

## Awards

* C. F. Hansen Medal
* Thorvaldsen Medal
* Eckersberg Medal
* Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal
* N. L. Høyen Medal

## Notable alumni and faculty

The School of Visual Arts
* Carl Bloch
* C. C. A. Christensen
* Lili Elbe
* Olafur Eliasson
* Andreas Emenius
* Caspar David Friedrich (1794–1798)
* Oluf Hartmann
* Jeppe Hein
* Georg Jensen
* Asger Jorn
* Jane Jin Kaisen
* Karl Kvaran
* Philipp Otto Runge (1799–1801)
* Heidi Maria Schwarck
* Nína Sæmundsson
* Per Johan Svendsen
* Bertel Thorvaldsen
The School of Architecture
* Jan Gehl
* Birgit Cold
* Knud Holscher
* Bjarke Ingels
* Victor Isbrand
* Arne Jacobsen
* Finn Juhl
* Kaare Klint
* Henning Larsen
* Alex Popov
* Steen Eiler Rasmussen
* Verner Panton
* Johann Otto von Spreckelsen
* Magnus Steendorff
* Lene Tranberg
* Jørn Utzon
* Kristian von Bengtson
* Martin Nyrop

## Directors of the Royal Academy schools

| From | To | Director |
| 1754 | 1754 | Nicolai Eigtved |
| 1754 | 1771 | Jacques-François-Joseph Saly |
| 1771 | 1772 | Carl Gustaf Pilo |
| 1772 | 1777 | Johannes Wiedewelt |
| 1777 | 1779 | Caspar Frederik Harsdorff |
| 1780 | 1789 | Johannes Wiedewelt |
| 1789 | 1791 | Nicolai Abildgaard |
| 1791 | 1792 | Andreas Weidenhaupt |
| 1793 | 1795 | Johannes Wiedewelt |
| 1796 | 1797 | Jens Juel |
| 1797 | 1799 | Peter Meyn |
| 1799 | 1801 | Jens Juel |
| 1801 | 1809 | Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard |
| 1809 | 1810 | Christian August Lorentzen |
| 1811 | 1818 | Christian Frederik Hansen |
| 1818 | 1821 | Nicolai Dajon |
| 1821 | 1827 | Christian Frederik Hansen |
| 1827 | 1829 | Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg |
| 1830 | 1833 | Christian Frederik Hansen |
| 1833 | 1844 | Bertel Thorvaldsen |
| 1844 | 1849 | Jørgen Hansen Koch |
| 1850 | 1853 | Herman Wilhelm Bissen |
| 1854 | 1857 | Wilhelm Marstrand |
| 1857 | 1863 | Jens Adolf Jerichau |
| 1863 | 1873 | Wilhelm Marstrand |
| 1873 | 1890 | Ferdinand Meldahl |
| 1890 | 1892 | Otto Bache |
| 1893 | 1896 | Theobald Stein |
| 1896 | 1899 | Otto Bache |
| 1899 | 1902 | Ferdinand Meldahl |
| 1902 | 1905 | Vilhelm Bissen |
| 1905 | 1906 | Otto Bache |
| 1906 | 1908 | Vilhelm Bissen |
| 1908 | 1911 | Martin Nyrop |
| 1911 | 1914 | Viggo Johansen |
| 1914 | 1917 | Carl Aarsleff |
| 1917 | 1920 | Hermann Baagøe Storck |
| 1920 | 1825 | Joakim Skovgaard |
| 1925 | 1925 | Anton Rosen |
| 1925 | 1928 | Einar Utzon-Frank |
| 1928 | 1931 | Poul Holsøe |
| 1931 | 1934 | Aksel Jørgensen |
| 1934 | 1937 | Einar Utzon-Frank |
| 1937 | 1940 | Poul Holsøe |
| 1940 | 1943 | Sigurd Wandel |
| 1943 | 1946 | Johannes Bjerg |
| 1946 | 1949 | Edvard Thomsen |
| 1949 | 1952 | Kræsten Iversen |
| 1952 | 1955 | Johannes Bjerg |
| 1955 | 1956 | Svend Møller |
| 1956 | 1965 | Palle Suenson |
| 1965 | 1974 | Tobias Faber |
| 1974 | | Individual directors for the schools |

## Gallery

* Gustav III's Visit to the academy 1780 (Martin)
* Model Class at the academy c. 1824 (Lorentzen)
* Model Class at the academy 1826 (Bendz)
* Plaster cast collection 1843 (Exner)
* Thorvaldsen's studio at Charlottenborg, painted by Johan Vilhelm Gertner while he was still a student at the academy (1836)