Sigurður Trausti Traustason, deildarstjóri safneignar, veitir innsýn í varðveislu og söfnun listaverkanna og Björk Hrafnsdóttir segir frá listamanninum Erró.  

Í Hafnarhúsi geymum við Erró safnið en árið 1989 gaf Erró Reykjavíkurborg stórt safn verka sinna, um 2.000 talsins. Safnið hefur vaxið jafnt og þétt síðustu árin því að Erró hefur haldið áfram að bæta við gjöfina og keypt hafa verið verk í safnið – sem telur nú um 4.000 listaverk. Sýningar á safni Errós eiga sér fastan sess í Hafnarhúsinu, en með þeim er leitast við að gefa sem besta mynd af fjölbreyttum áherslum í verkum listamannsins.  

Skráning á viðburðinn er nauðsynleg, þáttaka hámarkast við 12 manns.

Vilji árskorthafi taka með sér gest á viðburðinn þarf sá gestur að borga aðgangseyri inn á safnið. Hámark einn gestur á hvern árskorthafa og skrá þarf gestinn á viðburðinn.

Skráningarhlekkur: https://outlook.office.com/book/ListasafnReykjavkurViburir@reykjavik.is/

Sigurður Trausti Traustason, Head of Collections, offers insight into the preservation and acquisition of artworks, while Björk Hrafnsdóttir presents an introduction to the artist Erró.

Hafnarhús is home to the Erró Collection. When Erró donated around 2,000 of his works to the City of Reykjavík in 1989, he laid the foundation for a collection that has continued to grow through his own ongoing contributions and new acquisitions to nearly 4,000 artworks today. Exhibitions drawn from this collection have become a staple at Hafnarhús, showcasing the breadth and variety of the artist’s creative focus.

Registration for the event is necessary, maximum of 12 participants.

Annual pass holders may bring one guest to the event however the guest is required to pay the museum admission fee. Please note that the guest must also be registered for the event.

Registration link: https://outlook.office.com/book/ListasafnReykjavkurViburir@reykjavik.is/

We offer our annual pass holders a unique opportunity to visit our art archive facilities at Hafnarhús, along with a guided tour of the exhibition Erró: Remix.

Annual pass holders | Visit to art archives in Hafnarhús and a guided tour of Erró’s works

Við bjóðum árskorthöfum okkar upp á einstakt tækifæri til að heimsækja listaverkageymslur okkar í Hafnarhúsi auk þess að fá leiðsögn um sýninguna Erró: Remix.

Árskortshafar | Innlit í listaverkageymslur Hafnarhúss og leiðsögn um Erró

Fræðsla

Leiðsögn

Sýning

Sýningarspjall

Sýning Guðrúnar Kristjánsdóttur í Vestursal Kjarvalsstaða færir víðáttur náttúrunnar nær okkur.

Guðrún hefur skapað sér sérstöðu í íslenskri myndlist með verkum sem skoða samband náttúru og manns, mótað af veðri og birtu á Íslandi. Hún nálgast náttúruna sem lifandi afl, þar sem kyrrð og kraftur mætast og óvænt fegurð birtist í hógværum augnablikum.

Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir er fædd árið 1950 og nam myndlist við École des Beaux-Arts í Aix-en-Provence í Frakklandi. Hún hélt sína fyrstu einkasýningu í Kjarvalsstöðum árið 1986 og hefur síðan sýnt víða, bæði á Íslandi og erlendis, meðal annars í Evrópu, Bandaríkjunum og Asíu.

Sýningastjóri er Sunna Ástþórsdóttir

Daníel Bjarnason tónskáld opnar sýninguna.

Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir's exhibition in the West Hall of Kjarvalsstaðir brings the vastness of nature closer to us.

Guðrún has carved out a unique place in Icelandic art with works that explore the relationship between nature and man, shaped by the weather and light in Iceland. She approaches nature as a living force, where stillness and power meet and unexpected beauty emerges in humble moments.

Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir was born in 1950 and studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence, France. She held her first solo exhibition in Kjarvalsstaðir in 1986 and has since exhibited widely, both in Iceland and abroad, including in Europe, the United States and Asia.

Curator: Sunna Ástþórsdóttir

Composer Daníel Bjarnason opens the exhibition.

Welcome to the opening of the exhibition Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Traces, Saturday, 21 February  at 15h00 at Kjarvalsstaðir.

Opening  │ Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Traces

Verið velkomin á opnun sýningarinnar Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Leiðir, laugardag 21. febrúar kl. 15.00 á Kjarvalsstöðum.

Opnun | Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Leiðir

Opnun

Í fyrirlestrinum Evrópa og úlfurinn skoðar Nadal-Melsió hvernig verk nokkurra samtímalistamanna varpa ljósi á þá kreppu sem altæk evrópsk gildi standa frammi fyrir í ljósi harðneskjulegs veruleika útilokunar og eftirlits með landamærum. Titillinn vísar til „úlfsins“, hugtaks úr barokktónlist sem lýsir ósamhljómi sem verður til þegar reynt er að stilla eða stilla saman hljóðfæri. Evrópa og úlfurinn nýtir þessa tónlistarlegu myndgervingu til að fjalla um fagurfræði verka sem hugsa um félagslegar og pólitískar mótsagnir í samtímanum. Evrópa er sett fram sem huglægt vandamál sem lítur á samræmingu sem skipulagsreglu á meðan „úlfurinn“ stendur fyrir ósamræmi og birtist í útlendingnum, innflytjandanum eða flóttamanninum. Orðið „úlfur“ vísar í latneska máltækiðð „maður er manni úlfur“ sem vekur upp gegnsýrðan ótta, og jafnvel hatur á því sem er framandi, ókunnugt, eða utan landamæra samfélagsins. Fyrirlesturinn fylgir „úlfinum“ í gegnum tengingar milli tónlistar, myndlistar og stjórnmál og nýstárlegar túlkanir á verkum eftir listamenn á borð við Carlos Santos, Pere Portabella, Allora&Calzadilla, og Anri Sala. Í verkunum birtast óstöðugar táknrænar og efnislegar samsetningar sem opna fjölbreytta pólitíska möguleika og ómöguleika – sem ögra stofnunum sem þola illa óvissu og líta með tortryggni á fjölbreytileika.
Sara Nadal-Melsíó hefur kennt við Pennsylvaníu háskóla, Princeton háskóla, New York háskóla, SOMA í Mexíkóborg og Birkbeck, hugvísindastofnunina, auk þess að kenna við Einaldea í Barselóna. Hún hefur einnig verið aðstoðaryfirmaður Whitney Independent Study Program. Skrif hennar hafa birst í akademískum tímaritum, ritstýrðum greinasöfnum og sýningarskrám safna. Nýjustu bækur hennar eru Politically Red (MIT, 2023), sem hún skrifaði með Eduardo Cadava og Europe and the Wolf: Political Variations on a Musical Figure (Zone Books, 2025).

Sara Nadal-Melsió is a Catalan writer, curator, and educator committed to collaborative thinking, alternative literacies, and collective learning practices.
Europe and the Wolf explores how the work of several contemporary artists illuminates the current crisis of European universalist values amid the brutal realities of exclusion and policing of borders. The “wolf” is the name Baroque musicians gave to the dissonant sound produced in any attempt to temper and harmonize an instrument. Europe and the Wolf brings this musical figure to bear on contemporary aesthetic practices that respond to Europe’s ongoing social and political contradictions.
Throughout, Europe is understood as a conceptual problem that often relies on harmonization as an organizing category. The “wolf” as an emblem of disharmony, incarnated in the stranger, the immigrant, or the refugee, originates in the Latin proverb “man is a wolf to man.” This longstanding phrase evokes the pervasive fear, and even hatred, of what is foreign, unknown, or beyond the borders of a community. The talk follows the “wolf” in a series of relays between the musical, the visual, and the political, and through innovative readings of artworks—by, among others, Carles Santos, Pere Portabella, Allora&Calzadilla, and Anri Sala. Traversed by the musical, these artworks present unstable symbolic and material ensembles in an array of variations of political possibilities and impossibilities that evade institutions intolerant of uncertainty and wary of diversity.
Sara Nadal-Melsió has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, New York University, SOMA in Mexico City, and The Birkbeck Humanities Institute for the Humanities, and continues to teach at EinaIdea in Barcelona. She has also been the Associate Director of the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her essays have appeared in various academic journals, edited volumes, and museum catalogues. Most recently, she is the co-author (with Eduardo Cadava) of Politically Red (MIT, 2023) and the author of Europe and the Wolf: Political Variations on a Musical Figure( Zone Books, 2025).

Sara Nadal-Melsió is a Catalan writer, curator, and educator committed to collaborative thinking, alternative literacies, and collective learning practices.

Talk Series | Sara Nadal-Melsió

Sara Nadal-Melsió er katalónskur rithöfundur, sýningarstjóri og kennari sem starfar á mörkum samvinnuhugsunar, annars konar læsis, og sameiginlegra námsaðferða.

Umræðuþræðir |  Sara Nadal-Melsió - Evrópa og úlfurinn: pólitísk tilbrigði við myndgervingu úr tónlist

Fyrirlestur

Á foreldramorgnum er boðið upp á sérleiðsagnir um sýningar fyrir foreldra með ungabörn í rólegu umhverfi. Eldri systkini velkomin með. Frábært tækifæri fyrir foreldra og ung börn þeirra til að hittast og eiga rólega stund saman á safninu.  

Leiðsögn í boði frá 10.30 –11.30.   Í þetta sinn verður leiðsögbub yn yfirlitssýninguna Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir: Ósagt.

Á Kjarvalsstöðum er gott pláss fyrir barnavagna, aðstaða með skiptiborði og hljóðlátt rými fyrir brjóstagjöf. Hægt er að kaupa veitingar á Klömbrum bistro.  

Aðgöngumiði á safnið gildir. Frítt fyrir árskortshafa, menningarkortshafa og yngri en 18 ára.

At parent mornings, special guided tours of the exhibitions are offered for parents with infants in a calm and relaxed environment. Older siblings are also welcome. A wonderful opportunity for parents and their young children to meet, spend time together, and enjoy a peaceful moment at the museum.  

Guided tour available from 10:30–11:30.  

Kjarvalsstaðir offers ample space for strollers, facilities with a changing table, and a quiet area for breastfeeding. Refreshments can be purchased at Klambrar Bistro.  

Admission with museum ticket. Free for Annual pass- and Culture Card holders, free for visitors under 18.

Parents with young children are especially welcome to visit Kjarvalsstaðir on the first Tuesday of each month.

Parents’ Morning at Kjarvalsstaðir

Við bjóðum foreldra með ungabörn sérstaklega velkomin á Kjarvalsstaði fyrsta þriðjudag mánaðarins.

Foreldramorgunn á Kjarvalsstöðum

Hugo Llanes er listamaður og menningareiðbeinandi sem býr og starfar á Íslandi.

List Hugos byggist á pólitískum og samfélagslegum málefnum og spanna fjölbreytta miðla svo sem innsetningar, gjörninga og málverk. Meðal þema í verkum hans má nefna fólksflutninga, aðlögun, fylgisemd, valdastrúktúr og sjálfsmynd fólks í fyrrverandi nýlendum. Meðal nýlegra sýninga má nefna Your Addiction is the Message! í Gallery 99 – Brno House of Arts í Tékklandi; Los Primxs, gjörningur í samstarfi við Lucky 3 í Local Taller Artist-run í Xalapa, Mexíkó; Gottfariðillailla í Nýlistasafninu, Reykjavík; og Að rekja brot í Gerðarsafni, Kópavogi.

Sýningaröðin í D-sal hóf göngu sína árið 2007. Hér er listamönnum sem hafa mótandi áhrif á íslenska myndlistarsenu boðið að halda sína fyrstu einkasýningu í opinberu safni.

Hugo Llanes is an artist and cultural facilitator based in Reykjavík. 

His œuvre explores political and social issues through artistic research and a wide range of media, including installation, performance, and expanded painting. His work examines themes such as migration and adaptation, belonging, power dynamics, and post-colonial identity. Llanes often incorporates food into his practice, inviting audience participation and engagement.

Recent exhibitions include Your Addiction is the Message! at Gallery 99 – Brno House of Arts in the Czech Republic; Los Primxs, a performance in collaboration with Lucky 3 Collective at Local Taller Artist-run in Xalapa, Mexico; goodgonebadwrong at the Living Art Museum in Iceland; and Tracing Fragments at the Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland, which was awarded Best Group Show by the Icelandic Art Prize in 2024.

Reykjavik Art Museum ‘s D-Gallery exhibition series started in 2007. Emerging artists, who are shaping the local contemporary art scene, are invited to hold their first solo show in a public museum.

Welcome to the opening of the exhibition D54 Hugo Llanes 12 March at 20h00 in D-gallery of Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús. 
This is Hugo Llanes'  first solo exhibition in a public museum.

Opening | D54 Hugo Llanes

Velkomin á opnun í D-sal Hafnarhúss, fimmtudagskvöldið 12. mars kl. 20.00. D54 Hugo Llanes er fyrsta einkasýning myndlistarmannsins á opinberu safni.

OPNUN | D54 Hugo Llanes

Fjölmenning

Guðrún hefur skapað sér sérstöðu í íslenskri myndlist með verkum sem skoða samband náttúru og manns, mótað af veðri og birtu á Íslandi. Hún nálgast náttúruna sem lifandi afl, þar sem kyrrð og kraftur mætast og óvænt fegurð birtist í hógværum augnablikum.  

Skráning á viðburðinn er nauðsynleg, þáttaka hámarkast við 30 manns.

Vilji árskorthafi taka með sér gest á viðburðinn þarf sá gestur að borga aðgangseyri inn á safnið. Hámark einn gestur á hvern árskorthafa og skrá þarf gestinn á viðburðinn.

Skráning: https://outlook.office.com/book/ListasafnReykjavkurViburir@reykjavik.is/

Guðrún has established a distinctive position within the Icelandic contemporary artscene with works that explore the relationship between nature and humans, shaped by Iceland’s weather and light. She approaches nature as a living force, where stillness and power meet and unexpected beauty emerges in modest moments.  

Registration for the event is necessary, maximum of 30 participants.

Annual pass holders may bring one guest to the event; however, the guest is required to pay the museum admission fee. Please note that the guest must also be registered for the event.

Registration: https://outlook.office.com/book/ListasafnReykjavkurViburir@reykjavik.is/

Curator Sunna Ástþórsdóttir will give a guided tour of the exhibition Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Traces for the Reykjavík Art Museum annual pass holders at Kjarvalsstaðir.

Annual pass holders | Guided tour of Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir’s exhibition: Traces

Sýningarstjórinn Sunna Ástþórsdóttir veitir leiðsögn um sýninguna Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir: Leiðir fyrir árskorthafa Listasafns Reykjavíkur á Kjarvalsstöðum.

Áskortshafar | Leiðsögn um sýningu Guðrúnar Kristjánsdóttur: Leiðir

Ásmundarsafn, Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir

Erró

Hafnarhús

The Reykjavik Art Musem houses the most extensive collection of Erró's works and exhibitions from the Erró collection are a regular fixture at the Hafnarhús site of the Reykjavík Art Museum, with the purpose of giving as clear an image as possible of the diverse character of the artist's works.

Erró is one of the few Icelandic artists who has gained a foothold in the international art scene.

This exhibition is a comprehensive overview of the artist's colourful career that has made use of various media in the visual arts. Within it you will find everything from performances, video works, graphics, multiples and collages, to larger works in public spaces and paintings of all scales.

The artist Erró, born Guðmundur Guðmundsson in 1932 in Ólafsvík, West Iceland, was among the most prominent figures of the European avant-garde of the 1960s. In the history of art of that period, his name is associated not only with the renewal of pictorial figuration, due to his invention of narrative collage-paintings, but also with the Happenings movement and experimental cinema. Although his work is often, rightly, attached to artistic groups like Surrealism, Narrative Figuration or Pop art, it cannot be reduced to any one of them.

Erró: Remix

Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir is the 53rd artist to exhibit in the D Gallery. Here, artists who shaped the Icelandic art scene are invited to debut their work in a solo exhibition at a public museum.

The Smooth Operator is a new video-installation where we follow a woman in pursuit of absolute smoothness of her legs. This gradually develops into an obsession and an unexplained fear of short, dark hairs. The work takes on a form that is both attractive and unsettling. Through absurd humor, hair-like textures, and obsessive attention to feet, beauty rituals acquire an almost supernatural quality, driven by a belief in transformation.

Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir (b. 1993) works across multiple media, translating ideas drawn from her own experiences, stories, and everyday objects into diverse forms. Through painting, photographs, sculpture, video, and sound, she engages with the hyperreality of everyday life and examines the tension between the natural, the man-made, and the staged. Kristín seeks to reflect the world we inhabit, where distinctions between reality and fiction are increasingly blurred.

Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Iceland University of the Arts in 2016 and participated in an exchange program at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, where she also completed an internship after graduation. In 2019, she moved to New York to pursue an MFA in Studio Art at New York University, completing the program in January 2022.  

Her works have been exhibited widely, both in Iceland and internationally, including at Gerðarsafn, Hafnarborg, The Living Art Museum, Þula Hafnartorg, and 80WSE in New York. In the summer of 2024, she was invited to participate in a studio residency at ISCP in New York through the Icelandic Art Center. Her films have received awards at film festivals, and a music video by her was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards in 2019.  

She has received numerous grants and recognitions, including a grant and fellowship from the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation (2020–2021), a grant from the Guðmunda Andrésdóttir Fund in 2020, a grant from the Scandinavian Foundation in 2019, and a scholarship for promising students from Landsbankinn in 2021.


D53 Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: The Smooth Operator

Jóhannes S. Kjarval

Kjarvalsstaðir

These works extend across the period during which the painter Jóhannes S. Kjarval was active. In examining Kjarval's journey, and comparing it to the works of his contemporaries, it is possible to see the various ways art changes and evolves. The prevailing spirit of each era is reflected in differing shifts in style, and the artworks provide insight into the artists' inspirations, their surroundings and circumstances. Initially, a romantic view of nature predominated, but symbolism soon after made its way into the narrative, and the first steps were taken towards breaking away from naturalistic imagery.

In this exhibition, you can see artworks by Icelandic artists that span approximately six decades following the turn of the 20th century. 

Kjarval was born in 1885 and died in 1972. Between these points in time lies a significant period in cultural history and global society. This was a period of profound social transformation, industrialisation, urban development and technological advancement. Icelandic artists traveled abroad for education, returned home with fresh ideas, and were inspired by the currents and movements they encountered in Europe. In this sense, artists truly are not isolated islands in world history, but rather engage with various circumstances, innovations, revolutions and conflicts through their works.

As contemporary values embedded themselves in Icelandic society, the subjects and methods of artists evolved. Traditional artistic boundaries were shattered, and abstraction found its place. The then present era left its mark on Icelandic society, as is evident in the progress and diversity of artists' creative endeavors, and in the lifelong work of Kjarval.

In 1973, a year following Kjarval's death, Kjarvalsstaðir was inaugurated and named in his honor. Kjarval is one of the most beloved artists of the nation and his works have been exhibited here for half a century. Kjarval‘s works and those of other artists in this exhibition come from the collection of Reykjavik Art Museum, with the exception of Kjarval's famous _Mountain Milk_ (_Fjallamjólk_), one of the artist's most renowned pieces, which is currently on loan from ASÍ Art Museum.

Kjarval and the 20th Century: When Modernity Anchored

Ásmundur Sveinsson

Myndhöggvarinn að störfum á vinnustofu sinni.

Ásmundarsafn

Sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson worked in different materials. He carved wood, cut stone, shaped clay, transferred forms to concrete, in addition to working with iron and found materials. Many of his best-known works are enlarged and placed in public space around the city. His works were created in relentless experimentation in the studio where he allowed material, content and space work hand in hand. The sculptures are either figurative or abstract, as Ásmundur went through various periods in his artistic creation. In the exhibition, we go back in time and into Ásmundur's studio. We get a sense of what happened behind the scenes in the artist's search for the appropriate completion for the ideas that emerged.

 In the exhibition, we go back in time and into Ásmundur's studio.

Wonderland was the name of the next farm to the place in Laugardalur where Ásmundur built his studio, the "dome" in Sigtún. He lived here with his family, built and developed unique facilities for artistic creation. The house was partially rebuilt and opened as an art museum and sculpture garden after Ásmundur's death over 40 years ago. Reykjavík Art Museum's aim ever since has been to show his work in all its variety and to provide a platform for a younger generation of artists to show their own work in the context of his heritage.

Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893–1982) was one of the pioneers of Icelandic sculpture. He studied at the Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, spent several years in Paris and travelled through Greece and Italy. Ásmundur always remained loyal to the position that art had a mission for the people and belonged among them. He was called the folk poet in art, and without a doubt, that ideal is rooted in his attitude to life as much as in the sculptural tradition.

Ásmundur Sveinsson: Wonderland

Katrín Elvarsdóttir

Black and White close up photo of  Fenjagreni by artist Katrínu Elvarsdóttur

At the forefront are three plant species, cherry blossom, banana plant, and Dawn Redwood each with a long and fascinating history connecting different continents. She follows them with her camera – not to pin them down, but to record them and transform them into another form. In the photograph they belong to another world, created by the artist. They bear witness to something movable, but not forgotten, of what can flourish — even far away from its origins.

In A Botanical Future, Katrín focuses on plants that have traveled between habitats. 

Katrín Elvarsdóttir:  A Botanical Future

This project was Iceland's contribution to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2025. The exhibition tells the story of a future society that has learned to tame lava flows, utilize them, and thus turn a local threat into an opportunity for creativity.

Lavaforming is a proposal on how the brutal force of lava can be turned into a valuable resource, capable of lowering atmospheric emissions through its future use as a sustainable building material.

In our story, placed in 2150, we have harnessed the lava flow, just as we did with geothermal energy 200 years earlier in Iceland. The main goal of Lavaforming is to show that architecture can be the force that rethinks and shapes a new future with sustainability, innovation, and creative thinking. A lava flow can contain enough building material for the foundations of an entire city to rise in a matter of weeks without harmful mining and non-renewable energy generation. Lavaforming is exploring a building material that has never been used before. The theme is both a proposal and a metaphor - architecture is in a paradigm shift, many of our current methods have been deemed obsolete or harmful in the long term. In our current predicament - we need to be bold, think in new ways, look at challenges and find the right resources - Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, curator, architect, founder and creative director of Lavaforming. 

Architect Arnhildur Pálmadóttir is the founder and owner of s.ap architects, which specializes in sustainability and circularity in construction, and the curator and the creative director of Lavaforming. She is renowned for her entrepreneurial attitude and interdisciplinary interest that she uses to tackle projects from various perspectives. 

The exhibition team of the Venice Biennale comes from s. ap architects, an interdisciplinary research studio focusing on speculative projects of the future, along with interdisciplinary collaborators. The exhibition team consists of Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, Arnar Skarphéðinsson, Björg Skarphéðinsdóttir, Sukanya Mukherjee, Jack Armitage, and Andri Snær Magnason. The graphic design is handled by the design studio Studio Studio, and Markús Þór Andrésson, Head of Exhibitions and Mediation at the Reykjavík Art Museum, serves as the exhibition's consultant. 


s. ap architects: Lavaforming

Finnur Arnar Arnarson

Black and white photo of artist Finnur Arnar Arnarsson

Svarthvít mynd af Finni Arnari Arnarssyni

He finds form in his ideas in a variety of media, such as sculpture, installations, and photographs.

Finnur Arnar Arnarson often works with the relationship between man and the environment in his works.

Finnur Arnar studied, first in the sculpture department and then in the polytechnic department of the Icelandic School of Art and Crafts, graduating in 1991. In parallel with his art, he has designed sets for theaters, exhibitions for museums and institutions, as well as teaching art. He was the artistic director and ran the Skúrinn Cultural Center from 2012 to 2014. Finnur Arnar's works are always on the border of nature, humanity and culture - they are reflections on the smallness of man in relation to larger and stronger forces and how that fact changes our perception of our own existence.

Undraland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. It was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built between 1942-1950. The house was next to a farmhouse called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur named the house and his works after him to the city of Reykjavík, and a museum dedicated to his memory was established there in 1983. During the four decades that the artist worked in the house, it was a venue for fertile artistic creation. Throughout 2025, artists have been offered facilities in the house to work on their own works in progress or any kind of process, and in 2026, Finnur Arnar will step on the platform as the sixth artist with a work in progress in Ásmundarsafn.

The work is called Judgment and is about being this male animal but also about being condemned to be an artist.

"I live in a tent inside the museum, day and night, a bit like an animal. Up in the dome, I'm painting a "dome," a kind of church ceiling like in old cathedrals."

"I am no Michelangelo and not a painter, but he was not one either, so my judgment will not be a fresco but more of a mixed media. The church had church ceilings painted to tell people how they should behave and how they would be punished if they did not obey. Few people could read at that time, which is why they resorted to imagery."

Finnur Arnar Arnarsson, artist.

Seven exhibitions - three locations
Ásmundarsafn, Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir

Exhibitions

Erró: Remix

Erró: Remix

D53 Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: The Smooth Operator

D53 Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: The Smooth Operator

Kjarval and the 20th Century: When Modernity Anchored

Kjarval and the 20th Century: When Modernity Anchored

Ásmundur Sveinsson: Wonderland

Ásmundur Sveinsson: Wonderland

Katrín Elvarsdóttir: A Botanical Future

Katrín Elvarsdóttir: A Botanical Future

s. ap architects: Lavaforming

s. ap architects: Lavaforming

Wonderland: Work in progress with Finnur Arnar

Wonderland: Work in progress with Finnur Arnar

Events

Locations

Ásmundarsafn

Hafnarhús

Kjarvalsstaðir

Seven exhi­bitions - three locations Ásmund­arsafn, Hafn­ar­hús, Kjar­vals­staðir

Exhibitions

Erró: Remix

Erró: Remix

D53 Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: The Smooth Operator

D53 Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: The Smooth Operator

Kjarval and the 20th Century: When Modernity Anchored

Kjarval and the 20th Century: When Modernity Anchored

Ásmundur Sveinsson: Wonderland

Ásmundur Sveinsson: Wonderland

Katrín Elvarsdóttir: A Botanical Future

Katrín Elvarsdóttir: A Botanical Future

s. ap architects: Lavaforming

s. ap architects: Lavaforming

Wonderland: Work in progress with Finnur Arnar

Wonderland: Work in progress with Finnur Arnar

Events

Locations

Ásmundarsafn

Hafnarhús

Kjarvalsstaðir

Seven exhibitions - three locations
Ásmundarsafn, Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir