Robert Smithson is undoubtedly one of the most important artists in the second half of the 20th Century. His innovations in both the practice and theory of art have been mentioned with great respect by many artists and art historians. His work Spiral Jetty (1970) in Great Salt Lake, Utah, is a milestone in recent art history and has been reproduced in countless reference works and encyclopaedias. But apart from this work, Smithson's art is not well known to the general public. One explanation may be his early death. Another may be that his work did not really fit in with the common view of what a work of art should look like.

The aim of the three museums, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Modern Museum, and the Arken Museum of Modern Art in combining their efforts to stage a broad retrospective exhibition of Robert Smithson is to present a life's work which we know has been, and believe will continue to be, a major source of inspiration for generations.