SMK has the country's largest art collection, which consists of around 260,000 works of art. The art collection was originally the collection of the Danish kings, but with the introduction of democracy in Denmark in the middle of the 19th century, the kings' art collection was given to the people. That gift became SMK. Artworks from the large collection can be experienced in exhibitions and presentations at SMK. But because the art collection is so large, only a small part is visible when visiting SMK on a completely ordinary day. Several works of art are either in other museums in Denmark or in international museums, where they are displayed in many different exhibitions, but most works of art are in the museum's magazines. It is an ambition for SMK that the entire art collection will be available digitally and for free use on the Internet.