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

Erró

Hafnarhús

Each work was to be accompanied by a text by a writer. The project changed and the exhibition now shows paintings, collages and graphic works belonging to related series: One Thousand and One Nights (1977-1981), One Thousand and Three Nights (1982) and One Thousand and Three Nights (1984-1985), as well as the series Fractured Fairytales (1989-92).

When Erró began, in 1977, to make the series of works called One Thousand and One Nights, his idea was to put together 1001 visual works that he would then publish in a book. 

Many people are familiar with the storyteller, Scheherazade, who had been sentenced to death bu survived by telling the sultan a story every night. She cut her stories in the middle of exciting chapters, leaving the continuation for the day after, and so her execution was constantly postponed. This is how the collection of stories was born, One Thousand and One Nights, with its thrilling, unexpected and surprising stories. Folktales, fairy tales, travelogues, romantic novels, war stories and fables make up this body of literature, drawn from Indian, Arabic, Persian, Egyptian and Hellenic heritage. It has been enriched with supplements over the centuries and has been very popular in Europe since the 18th century.

The works come from the Erró Collection in Reykjavík Art Museum and private collections in Iceland.


Erró’s Nights are not directly illustrations from One Thousand and One Nights, but similar subjects such as travel, love, war and violence appear in his works. However, some references to the Orient can be found through visual elements borrowed from Western paintings: Slaves and harems, lion hunt and scenes from the Bible. But for the most part, the images refer to modern times, the conquest of space, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and imperial and colonial wars. These works are difficult to interpret. In them, Erró produces all kinds of approaches to mysterious and contradictory images, which confuse the viewer. Erró is true to himself, free and unprejudiced, and without preconceived ideas, he edits the mixed material of the media world and edits together works that have a powerful visual impact.

Erró: 1001 Nights

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

Questions arise concerning historiography, value assessment and power systems; what is preserved, by whom and for what purpose? 

Unnar Örn draws inspiration from the act of recording history. Formal records, photographs, collectibles or other ephemeral cultural remains become a source for the artist in what he calls an An Experiment With Time. 

Unnar Örn gets access to a unique collection that is still underexplored and therefore has an equivocal meaning.
The National Museum of Iceland holds this special collection, the so-called Ásbúðarsafn, with around 20,000 objects.  Andrés J. Johnson in Ásbúð in Hafnarfjörður (1885-1965) bequeathed it to the museum, but at the time he was considered one of the greatest collectors of memorabilia in the country. From a young age he collected all kinds of things, e.g. postcards, badges, money, banknotes, stamps and countless other small things that he came across from day to day.

Wonderland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. This was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built in the years 1942-1950. The plot was adjacent to a farm called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur bequeathed the house and his works to the city of Reykjavik after his day, 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 scene of vibrant artistic creation. Throughout the year 2025, artists are invited to elaborate on their own works in progress or any state of flux.

Unnar Örn Jónasson Auðarson was born in 1974 in Reykjavík. He graduated from the Iceland University of Arts in 1999 and completed his master's degree at Malmö Art Academy in 2003. Unnar Örn‘s lates exhibtion was in the Glass House, entitled Museum of Amnesia.


Wonderland: Work in Progress with Unnar Örn

Ragnar Kjartansson

Listamaðurinn Ragnar Kjartansson róandi árabát í hvítum jakkafötum með tvo farþega.

The work is a four-screen cinematic adaptation of the epic novel World Light (1937–1940) by the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness. Based on the structure of the novel’s four volumes the result is a four-channel video installation. The year 2025 marks the 10 year anniversary of the work and the 70th anniversary of Halldór Laxness' Nobel Prize.

Listasafn Reykjavíkur exhibits the work World Light from 2015 by  Ragnar Kjartansson.

To make the work, Kjartansson directed a group of friends and family from the Reykjavik art scene during a one-month performance at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna. Entitled the Palace of the Summerland the performance was open to the public that could simultaneously watch a show, its production and backstage activity. The film work delivers the same oscillation between spheres as not only do we see the actual shot but also the moments before and after. Every single recording of the eighty-odd scenes of the film is screened unedited, regardless of how they turned out or how many times they needed to be repeated. The result is a cubistic film of sorts; a relentless and fragmented whole touching on the epic range of human emotion and destiny.


Ragnar Kjartansson: World Light – The Life and Death of an Artist

Erla Þórar­ins­dóttir Eldfjall í öll lönd eða bombur handa hverjum og einum, 1983.

This exhibition is the culmination of a year-long research project dedicated to revealing the intricate networks, resilient connections, and bold initiatives that characterised this era of artistic creation, innovation and exploration.

Swell: Women’s Initiative in Icelandic Art in the Eighties is a group exhibition that explores the pivotal role of women artists in shaping the Icelandic art scene leading up to and during the transformative decade of the 1980s.

During the 1970s, second-wave feminism worldwide forged critical groundwork, advocating for women’s rights, increased visibility, and institutional change. Building on this momentum, often referred to as the Women’s Decade, the 1980s saw women artists further asserting their presence and challenging the dominant norms of the art world. The stage was  set for women artists who, by the eighties, were leveraging the pathways previously created to push the boundaries of contemporary art even further.

As Iceland underwent significant social and cultural shifts, these women emerged as radical voices, navigating and reshaping a largely male-dominated art world. Through solidarity and shared vision, they pioneered new forms of expression, from performance art to conceptual works, and redefined the parameters of what art could be. Swell highlights how these women artists spun webs of collaboration, support and determination, defying expectations and paving the way for future generations.  

The exhibition presents a selected, though not exhaustive, collection of works that reflect the dynamic practices of the artists, spanning performance, video, photography, sculpture, and prints. Each piece not only reflects the distinctive vision of its creator but also fits into a broader narrative of artistic exchange and influence. Many of these works, along with archival materials, are being exhibited for the first time since the 1980s, offering fresh insights into this influential period in Icelandic art history. 

This is more than a display of artwork—it is a tribute to the enduring power of community, the beauty of interconnected artistic networks, and the spirit of self-initiative that continues to shape contemporary art. The collaborative ethos of women artists during the 1980s not only fostered creative innovation but also influenced the public art spaces and organisations of the time, leading to more inclusive exhibiting and collecting practices and a deeper understanding of contemporary art in Iceland.

Accompanying the exhibition is a book that digs deeper into the stories behind the art and its environment. It includes essays by curator Becky Forsythe and art historian Heiða Björk Árnadóttir , an interview with artists, reproductions of artworks and archival materials that provide a context for the networks and relationships that fueled this period. Through this publication, we aim to preserve and honor the contributions of these pioneering women, whose work continues to resonate and inspire.

In 2021, the Reykjavík Art Museum received a three-year grant from the Museum Council of Iceland to establish a research fellowship dedicated to studying women’s contributions to Icelandic art history. This position, created in collaboration with the Art Theory programme at the University of Iceland‘s School of Humanities, has resulted in three exhibitions and publications dedicated to the work of Hildur Hákonardóttir, researched by Sigrún Inga Hrólfsdóttir (2023); Borghildur Óskarsdóttir, researched by Aðalheiður Lilja Guðmundsdóttir (2024); and Swell: Women’s Initiative in Icelandic Art in the Eighties is the third and final exhibition in this series, resulting from research by Becky Forsythe. 





Swell

Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir

Anna Hrund Másdóttir

Auður Lóa Guðnadóttir

Edda Jónsdóttir

Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar

Gjörningaklúbburinn

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir

Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir 

Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir

Margrét H. Blöndal

Sirra Sigrún Sigurðardóttir

Una Margrét Árnadóttir 

Una Björg Magnúsdóttir

Þóra Sigurðardóttir

Helga Páley

Kristín Morthens

Arna Óttarsdóttir 

Anna Hallin

Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir

Olga Bergmann

Katrín Elvarsdóttir

Helena Margrét Jónsdóttir 

Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir

Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir, Kapall, 2023.

Art is our only hope! is the title of a photographic series that capture a performance by Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir. There, she nods to Carolee Schneemann, who´s performance in the early  1960s was documented by artist Erró in a photo series, now a part of the Reykjavík Art Museum's collection.

Katrín´s work and this reference to the past, highlights decades of women´s tireless struggle to gain a plae in the art scene. Considering what has been gained, time becomes relative. The short time that has passed since women´s artistic creation was marginalized is amazing and at the same time it is surprising that there still is a long way to go before full equality is achieved. 

Reykjavík Art Museum has about 17.000 items in its collection, and there is a significant bias towards women. There are various explanations for this, the foundation of the museum´s holdings in the beginning was mostly art work by men artists, the museum preserves three comprehensive collections by men artist and purchases in the past were masculine. In recent years, there has risen an awareness, both in terms of the museum´s collection in whole and the exhibition program. 

The exhibition _Art is our only hope!_ consists of new works, bought and given, by living women artists. Here you can see the work of women of all ages, created in various media and with references to different subjects. Works from The Icelandic Love Corporation in the exhibition are a generous gift to the museum from the artists themselves, as well as works that have been purchased in the last five years. In addition to The Icelandic Love Corporation, there are works by many selected female artists, including Anna Hallin, Anna Hrund Másdóttir, Arna Óttarsdóttir, Auður Lóa Guðnadóttir, Edda Jónsdóttir, Erla Þórarinsdóttir, Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar, Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir, Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir, Kristín Morthens, Margrét H. Blöndal, Sirra Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Una Björg Magnúsdóttir, Una Margrét Árnadóttir and Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir.

Curator is Ólöf Kristín Sigurðardóttir


The exhibition _Art is our only hope!_ consists of new works, bought and given, by living women artists. Here you can see the work of women of all ages, created in various media and with references to different subjects. Works from The Icelandic Love Corporation in the exhibition are a generous gift to the museum from the artists themselves, as well as works that have been purchased in the last five years. In addition to The Icelandic Love Corporation, there are works by many selected female artists, including Anna Hallin, Anna Hrund Másdóttir, Arna Óttarsdóttir, Auður Lóa Guðnadóttir, Edda Jónsdóttir, Erla Þórarinsdóttir, Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar, Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir, Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir, Kristín Morthens, Margrét H. Blöndal, Sirra Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Una Björg Magnúsdóttir, Una Margrét Árnadóttir and Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir.

Curator is Ólöf Kristín Sigurðardóttir


Art is our only hope!

Hallgrímur Helgason

In the exhibition Havoc we focus on the art of Hallgrímur Helgason, an artist equally known for his writing and social commentary. Within the visual realm, Helgason has chosen painting and drawing as his means of expression.

Havoc of the mind, havoc of daily life, the havoc of human history—havoc has prevailed as a theme throughout the four-decade-long career considered here.

Hallgrímur uses these media to tell stories that resonate personally insofar as they reflect the spirit of the times or, more recently, respond to global events. A guiding principle has been his search for painting’s expressive potential, a motive that reflects a number of artistic movements. As a rule, the individual style Helgason has developed over the course of his practice has always been figurative, but his approach has drifted between realism and fantasy.

Havoc is the eighth exhibition in the Reykjavík Art Museum’s autumn exhibition series at Kjarvalsstaðir. These mid-career retrospectives survey work by artists who have already made valuable contributions to the history of Icelandic art—and who presumably have much more to offer. Our aim is to explore a wide range of subjects, conceptual approaches, and media, and on this occasion, we encounter painting as a platform for storytelling and social critique. As always, it is our intention at the Reykjavík Art Museum that these exhibitions and catalogues will help sustain the ongoing attention that Icelandic artists deserve.

"I want my colours to come alive, take huge risks, and not be too tasteful. Ideally, paintings should wreak havoc in a space, take over the living room, disrupt the balance, destroy the marriage!"

Hallgrimur Helgason is an Icelandic writer and artist born in Reykjavik in 1959. He spent a year at the Art School of Iceland and another one at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany. Since 1983 he has been working as an independent artist and writer. Helgason started out as a painter, and has held over 30 solo shows and participated in over 30 group exhibitions home and abroad. As a struggling artist he lived in Boston 1985-86, in New York 1986-89 and in Paris 1990-1995. Helgason published his first novel in 1990 and got his international breakthrough as a writer with the publication of 101 Reykjavik in 1996. In 2001 he was awarded the Icelandic Prize of Literature for his novel The Author of Iceland.


Hallgrímur Helgason: Havoc

Yoko Ono

Imagine Peace Tower is a unique work of art
by Yoko Ono, which was installed on Viðey Island
in 2007 and is a part of Reykjavík Art Museum’s
collection and thus the people of Reykjavík.

The Imagine Peace Tower originates in a Wishing Well, where the
phrase IMAGINE PEACE is inscribed in 24
different languages.

The work is a powerful landmark in the city and a much-needed reminder to us all to keep the vision of peace aloft, especially now when war
rages around the world. Yoko Ono created the Imagine Peace Tower to spread the peace message that she and her husband, John Lennon, held dear, and dedicated the work to him. The tower is lit every year from his birthday, 9 October to the anniversary of his death, 8 December.

Yoko Ono (1933) is a leading experimental and avant-garde artist. She has been associated with the Conceptual art, performance,
Fluxus and happenings of the 1960s, and is one of very few women to have participated in these movements. Many of her most famous
works are so-called participation works, where she invites the public to join in the art creation, the Wish Trees are a prime example of this. 

Further information about the Imagine Peace Tower  on the website imaginepeacetower.com.

Imagine Peace Tower

Jónsi

A viewer in a darkened space, surrounded by mist. Single line of light in the ceiling.

Jónsi (b. 1975) is known for his work in the field of music. For the last five years he has focused on transferring his experiments to the realm of visual art.

The installation FLÓÐ by Jónsi is on extended view in Hafnarhús.

The installation, FLÓÐ (Flood), invites the viewer to enter a darkened space, surrounded by mist and an ambiguous scent. All around echo sounds originating from nature, digital processing and the human voice. The sound sequence grows and escalates, the sensation extends from the ears to the bottom of the stomach, the reverberation floods the body in waves. A streak of light in the ceiling reacts to the sound and further enhances the multi-layered perception that the process offers.

The gravitational force of the moon and the sun, together with the rotation of the earth, cause the periodic rise and fall of the ocean. As tides change, large quantities of water move toward or away from shore causing tidal currents. The tidal rhythm has been regular and predictable for millennia. Today we experience a change in sea levels, linked to factors that are all induced by ongoing global climate change: Thermal expansion, melting glaciers and the loss of earth’s major ice sheets. As a result of sea level rise, the heights of tides are also changing, reaching higher and extending further inland than in the past.

Installation | Jónsi: FLÓÐ

Hreinn Friðfinnsson

Friðfinnsson's work is a poetic and philosophical exploration into every-day human experience where time and coincidence play an important role. Based on works in Reykjavík Art Museum‘s collection, the exhibition reflects his manifold attempts to handle transience and capture infinity in time and space.

Reykjavík Art Museum exhibits Hreinn Friðfinnsson´s works from the collection. 


The artist Hreinn Friðfinnsson had a long and successful career, from the 1970s to the present day, but he died earlier this year. Hreinn always lived in the Netherlands and showed his works in an international context as well as holding numerous exhibitions in his native Iceland. He made, among other things, photographic works, text works, bas-reliefs and installations from found materials. In his artistic creation, he referred to ideas about man's position in relation to time, eternity and the universe. With an everyday, poetic and humane approach, these grand subjects became heartfelt and haunting reflections. 
The exhibition From Time to Time is based exclusively on Hreinn's works in the museum's collection and spans his entire career. With it, Reykjavík Art Museum commemorates one of the most beloved artists of our time, who had an immeasurable influence with his works and personality.  Not least, he was a great inspiration to younger generations of artists, and hopefully his works will continue to inspire people in their multifaceted simplicity.


Hreinn Friðfinnsson: From Time - To Time

Stefán V. Jónsson (Stórval), Herðubreið, 1992

We travel around Iceland through a history that spans over a century. We stop and look at fjords, valleys, villages and farms through the eyes of people who know them better than anyone else. These are Paintings from Home, painted with love and warmth, filled with a sense of place and memories of the past. It so happens that on this trip we are unusually lucky with the weather!

A Journey around Iceland of last Century.

This exhibition of Paintings from Home is a research project into the periphery of Icelandic art history. Educated or self-taught artists have grabbed the paintbrush and created works in a personal conversation with places and memories. The motivation behind the works is based on a sincere desire to show and tell, to deepen connections, to remember and preserve, rather than taking on trends and styles in artistic context. 

The paintings tell the story of different individuals, but there are works by one hundred artists from all over the country. They also convey the story of a homogeneous society sharing a similar fate in times of social change. In the twentieth century, people moved from farms to villages, and from the countryside to the capital. This migration is intertwined with changes in the fields of education and culture, commerce and services, employment and economic development as well as social relations. The Paintings from Home remain as an attempt to slow down this progress, to stop time, to capture something before it is too late. 

How do they speak to us today?

Paintings from Home

Ásgrímur Þórhallsson

Kjartan Ari Pétursson

Sigurður Ámundason

Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson

Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson

Bjarni Þórarinsson

Deepa R. Iyengar

Halla Birgisdóttir

Jóhann S. Vilhjálmsson

Margrét Norðdahl

Marta Valgeirsdóttir

The exhibition showcases new and recent works by a diverse group of artists, reflecting a wide range of content, including autobiographical subjects, profound pain, emotions, and confusion, alongside poetic aspects of everyday life, repetitions, and chaos in daily routines, as well as unconventional forms and systems. The works encompass various media, including paintings, drawings, video works, and performances.

Murmur features works by contemporary Icelandic artists, focusing on confrontational methods in visual arts such as repetitions, rules, and overemphasis. 

Murmur

Ever since Erró introduced painted collage from sourced material to the European pop art movment in 1959, he has developed impressive works based on comics.

This summer, three large scale artworks by Erró from the museum's collection will be on display. 

The three works that are on display on the ground floor show different known characters from the world of comic books. The space offers guests the chance to get familiar with Erró's source material by reading comic books, watching a documentary on Erró's artistic process and furthermore activate their own creativity in the spirit of Erró during a collage workshop.

Erró: Works from the Collection

Each of Jónsi's works is a comprehensive world where space, sound, light and aroma form an unbroken whole. In his exhibition FLÓÐ (Flood) there are four works from 2023-2024, three of which take over their own exhibition gallery in Reykjavík Art Museum's Hafnarhús and one is placed outside by the entrance. Nature is at the fore, both as subject and material. Impressions are drawn from external and internal processes such as wind, tides, daylight and tectonics, but also from breathing and the flow of the body. The works are man-made, but their effect on the audience is equivocal and multi-layered, akin to an experience of nature. They appeal to different senses and evoke a deep connection between man and environment, here and now, in a non-stop cycle. There are forces at work that are stirring beneath the surface and can erupt and spill over us with unpredictable consequences.

Reykjavík Art Museum is proud to present Jónsi's first solo exhibition in Europe in collaboration with Reykjavík Arts Festival 2024.

Jónsi, Jón Þór Birgisson (b. 1975), received international recognition at the beginning of his career as the frontman of the band Sigur Rós. For the past two decades, he has worked with musicians, visual artists and filmmakers on works across art media. Together with his family, Jónsi has been running the perfume house Fischersund since 2017. Jónsi is known for his work in the field of music, and for the last five years he has focused on transferring his experiments with music and sound to the realm of spatial experience in the context of visual art. He has, among other things, held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, The Nordic Museum in Seattle, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. He has been living in Los Angeles in the USA for the past few years.

“Flóð is a spatial, scent, and sound sculpture, my main inspiration being the ocean… and the ocean being this ominous and mysterious force playing a central part in our Icelandic lives. It’s basically about ‘the big wave,’ a wave that takes us all and destroys everything in its path. The effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, flooding, melting glaciers and intensified natural disasters, are happening all around us, and this piece is a reflection of that dire reality.” – Jónsi

Jónsi: Flóð

The students grapple with, amongst others, redefining the multigenerational home; examining the demonization of natural phenomena; whether it is possible to make haute couture clothing from Icelandic wool without even using a sewing machine; experimenting with new tools in order to communicate information visually; and finding the sublime in the malign in these precarious times. The projects reflect their studies, research and artistic creation over the past few years. Together, the graduates face the challenges of our day – light and dark, cold and warmth – and the results herald good news.

At the 2024 graduation exhibition of Iceland University of the Arts, over 70 students from the Departments of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture will show their work.

In the calm of winter, as the sun is rising or setting, mother-of-pearl clouds can sometimes appear as streaks of light and spectacular colour dotting the sky. These (Nacreaous) clouds consist of many tiny ice crystals that gleam with an iridescent opalescence, even as the world below may be dim. The ice crystals bend the sun’s light to varying degrees and the result is reminiscent of a floating oil slick, a shimmering pearl, a shiny seashell or glittering sugar; the cloud is white, but it is also yellow, red, green and blue. Colourful amorphous blobs traveling through the stratosphere, settling only on earth when caught by the lens of a camera, providing a sense of wonder to all through social media. Their glow charms the beholder but can also be interpreted as a harbinger of intense news, such as a harsh winter or concerning levels of warming.

Iridescence

Borghildur Óskarsdóttir

The exhibition sheds light on her fruitful and diverse journey, artistic approach, and works. Alongside the exhibition, a refined book is released, placing her works in the context of art and science, history, and contemporary times.

Borghildur Óskarsdóttir (b. 1942) has an illustrious artistic career spanning six decades. She is still engaged with art, as it has become intertwined with her life and work. 

Borghildur's works speak to the contemporary era, characterized by an effort to reconsider the traces humans have left on nature, the sky, and the earth with all its biodiversity. Her environmental works already stand within the country's nature, including the piece _Flæðisker_ (1998), where the word "nature" is cast in large letters and laid out on the shore of Skerjafjörður. The work is now buried under sand and sea: nature claimed it. Another extensive work, _Threads on Land_ (2014), can be found across seven farmsteads in Landsveit and Rangárvellir; it consists of engraved tablets telling the ancestral stories of the people who lived on these farms. Here, Borghildur discusses the stories of real people in their struggle against natural forces and the laws of men that connect us to the roots of the land and people – our heritage and future.

Borghildur creates her works using a variety of media: graphics, drawing, text, painting, sculptures, photography, video, sound, book art, installations, performances, and the list goes on. No material or method of presenting artworks is irrelevant to her. However, clay as a material, as well as glass, serve as a common thread throughout her works, from being the material in her self-portraits (1983) – saturated with melancholy between light and darkness – to numerous other sculptures, into the extensive installation _Þjórsá_ (2018), where she floats delicate green-blue clay bowls into the river after arranging them in farmsteads of her ancestors, standing where the proposed Hvammsvirkjun hydroelectric plant is supposed to rise. Vessels and bowls can symbolize femininity, and with warmth, she envelops the land and the long cultural history of Icelandic common people, akin to land goddesses, to heal the wounds created by ingrained and patriarchal thoughts of dominion. Mother Earth, with its delicate ecological context that gives life, is repeatedly interwoven with the fatherland in her works.

Borghildur's works are subtly high-political and touch upon the poignant issues of Icelandic society, history, and culture, ranging from the vulnerable position of women within patriarchy to the precarious position of the country's inheritance. She has a unique way of conveying in her works wounds that do not easily heal, even though they are diverse, woven with layers, spread out, and silenced; melancholy in the shadow of patriarchal gender discrimination, brutal dislocations of families between towns, grand transformations of the land, and drying up of the cultural heritage in the favor of industrialization. The wounds she points out are still unhealed and require attention, care, and open discourse so that society can take prosperous steps into the future.

This is the result of the research work of Aðalheiður Lilja Guðmundsdóttir, but the Reykjavík Art Museum received the Museum Council's Öndvegisstyrkur in 2021 to investigate the role of women in Icelandic visual arts in collaboration with the art history program at the University of Iceland. The exhibition is the second of three, and at the beginning of 2023, an outstanding exhibition of works by Hildur Hákonardóttir opened at Kjarvalsstaðir, which was the result of research by Sigrún Inga Hrólfsdóttir.

Borghildur Óskarsdóttir: Heed

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir

As a performance artist, she has performed on various occasions and tested communication with the audience. Language comes into play in many ways, its possibilities and limitations, and questions arise about what takes over when we reach its limits. 

Ásta Fanney's work has a strong sense of flux, change and impermanence. It has not been tied to a specific medium but applied on most fronts that might be called time-based. 

Ásta Fanney intends to use her time in Ásmundarsafn attempting to map what she has worked on in recent years. The task is not easy, as it can be said that the characteristic of her career is that things come and go, something comes out of nothing but disappears just as quickly. As some sort of goal, Ásta Fanney has decided to share her findings in book form.

Wonderland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. This was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built in the years 1942-1950. The plot was adjacent to a farm called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur bequeathed the house and his works to the city of Reykjavik after his day, 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 scene of vibrant artistic creation. Throughout the year 2025, artists are invited to elaborate on their own works in progress or any state of flux.

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir (1987), deals with art, poetry, filmmaking and music. She has exhibited and performed her work in museums and festivals around the world, including Reykjavík Art Gallery, Ars Longa, Onassis and MOT and was nominated for the Bernard-Heidsieck-Centre Pompidou prize in France in 2021. Ásta Fanney will represent Iceland at the Venice Art Biennale in 2026.


Wonderland: Work in Progress with Ásta Fanney

In 1911, Kjarval traveled to London for the first time, marking his first journey abroad. 

The exhibition focuses on Kjarval's fantasy works, emphasizing pieces that include religious themes, divine or enigmatic beings, symbols, and mystical references. 

Kjarval stayed in London for three months, immersing himself in the latest European avant-garde movements, visiting museums and exhibitions, and drawing significant inspiration. He was particularly captivated by the works of the British poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827), known for his delicate and mystical drawings laden with religious symbols and references.
The exhibition will aim to highlight the influence Blake’s works had on Kjarval and explore the connections and references between them. Works by Blake will be borrowed from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. This will be the first time his works are displayed in Iceland.
The exhibition will also look to the sculptor Einar Jónsson (1874–1954), who was known for mythological and religious themes and emphasized symbolic meanings, both in sculpture and in paintings. Einar and Kjarval met in London and rented a room together during their stay there. It is evident that Kjarval was influenced not only by Blake but also by the ideas of theosophy introduced to him through Einar, as well as by Einar’s own works.
Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval (1885–1972) is one of the nation's most beloved artists, and his diverse body of work includes numerous paintings of Icelandic nature, mythical beings, and the people of Iceland. In 1968, Kjarval donated a significant portion of his artworks and personal belongings to the City of Reykjavík, and his works have been showcased in various ways since the opening of Kjarvalsstaðir in 1973.
Kjarval is best known for his grand depictions of Icelandic nature, but throughout his career, he also created numerous portraits and fantasy works featuring mythical creatures, often in connection with landscapes and nature. In 1908, he held his first exhibition at the age of 22 and without formal art training, where he showcased fantasy works for the first time. These fantasies would accompany him throughout his life, evolving and developing over the course of his career.


Kjarval: In the land of dreams, magic and faith

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.

Halldór Ásgeirsson

Halldór Ásgeirsson holding a small piece of lava.

In his art, he works with the foundations of the natural material world based on the philosophy that there is a constant transfer of energy between fields. This energy flows through human existence and affects worldly existence as well as spiritual awareness, culture, arts and religion.

Halldór is preoccupied with the ever-changing creative power of the earth. 

Halldór's special research topic is at the heart of his residency in Ásmundarsafn, Skaftáreldar, a major volcanic eruption which occurred in Iceland in the 18th century. This largest lava flow on earth in the last thousand years not only influenced geological history and caused climatic changes in certain parts of the world, but also left a mark in human history. Halldór works to map these connections and objectify them in works of art that are created through the transformation of material during lava melting and in experiments with sulfur.

Wonderland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. This was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built in the years 1942-1950. The plot was adjacent to a farm called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur bequeathed the house and his works to the city of Reykjavik after his day, 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 scene of vibrant artistic creation. Throughout the year 2025, artists are invited to elaborate on their own works in progress or any state of flux.

Halldór Ásgeirsson (1956) studied art at L'Université de Paris 8, Dept. Arts Plastiques in1977-80 and 1983-86. He has spent various periods around the world, for example in the Far East, Mexico and Japan where he stayed in the years 2003 - 07 and worked there i.a. with the third generation of the well-known Gutai art group that pioneered in performance and installation in the 1960s. Halldór's travels have been manifested in various ways in his artistic creation. Halldór now lives in Reykjavík, operating a studio in Búðardalur, West Iceland.


Wonderland: Work in Progress with Halldór Ásgeirsson

That world has influenced her artistic creation, especially ideas about the boundaries of reality and staging, truth and fakeness. 

Alongside her artistic practice, Amanda has worked with set design in films. 

Amanda has also drawn inspiration from research and hypotheses about the nature of visual perception, everything that the human eye detects but at the same time what falls outside our field of vision.
Recently, Amanda has embraced new research taking place in Japan, partly exploring alternative experiments on artificial intelligence. She is interested in how perception affects the progress of knowledge; how unformed awareness takes in information to its advantage on other and less rational grounds than intellectual ones.
Wonderland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. This was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built in the years 1942-1950. The plot was adjacent to a farm called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur bequeathed the house and his works to the city of Reykjavik after his day, 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 scene of vibrant artistic creation. Throughout the year 2025, artists are invited to elaborate on their own works in progress or any state of flux.
Amanda Riffo (b. 1977) Riffo is a French-Chilean artist who has been based in Reykjavík since 2012. She graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in 2002 with an MA in Fine Arts. Amanda received the Icelandic Art Prize as Artist of the Year 2024 for her solo exhibition, House of Purkinje, at the Living Art Museum.


Wonderland: Work in Progress with Amanda Riffo

Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir

Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir, Creation I, 2013

Kristín is one of the most prolific and beloved local contemporary artists, who has numerous extensive exhibitions behind her and works found widely in public ownership. She has attracted attention for not being afraid to break up her visual language and methods. 

At the retrospective exhibition in Kjarvalsstaðir’s West Gallery, we are given a unique perspective of the human condition and emotional life

Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir has attracted attention for not being afraid to break up her visual language and methods. She draws on centuries-old traditions and creates figurative paintings based on a complex system of symbols; abstract works that are reflect the expressionism of the modern era; and embroideries that are carefully executed from quickly made model sketches, to name a few examples. The foundation of Kristín's diverse career is solid, her artistic creation reflects the search for ways to express what is difficult to put into words. Her works convey emotions, general and personal experiences.

Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir was born in 1963 and studied art at the Art School in Akureyri and the Iceland School of Art and Handicrafts in the years 1983-88. She then went abroad and studied icon painting at the Fransescane Missionarie di María monastery in Rome, and studied at the State Academy in Florence, Italy in the years 1987-93. Kristín is the ninth artist chosen to participate in Reykjavík Art Museum's exhibition series, which examines the careers of key figures in the Icelandic art scene. Each one of them is selected for their unique contribution and specialization in their field, both in terms of media, methods and subjects. Such reviews are manifested in the selection of key works from different eras in the Kjarvalsstaðir exhibition and the publication of an exhibition catalog where the artist’s career is reviewed in the context of art history and contemporary theory. Curator is Markús Þór Andrésson

Image: Creation I, 2013


Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir: Retrospective

Steina Vasulka

Svarthvít mynd af Stenu að spila á fiðlu.

The exhibition is the first major retrospective of Steina's work in Iceland. It will span the entire scope of Steina's artistic career, from early experiments in documentary video work to her most recent installations from the early 2000s. Taken together, the retrospective traces the development of Steina’s ideas and technological innovations over several decades. Her work uniquely connects video art, music, and technology in ways that are both highly inventive and playful.   

Steina is internationally recognized as a leading pioneer in video and new media art; she is also a major influence on contemporary art in Iceland. 

Steina (b. Steinunn Briem Bjarnadottir, 1940, Iceland; lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico) trained as a violinist in Reykjavík and Prague. She emigrated to the United States in 1965 with her life partner, Woody Vasulka. Initially working as a freelance musician in New York, she began to focus on video in 1970, and in 1971, cofounded The Electronic Kitchen (later The Kitchen), the legendary multidisciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art space in New York City. After moving to Buffalo in 1973, Steina helped develop the production lab at the Center for Media Study, SUNY at Buffalo.  Since 1980, she has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, exhibiting regularly around the world. Her work is considered foundational in the history of video art.

The National Gallery of Iceland and the Reykjavík Art Museum are proud to present a collaboration on this comprehensive exhibition of the works of visual artist Steina Vasulka. The exhibition will open on October 4, 2025, and be on view until January 11, 2026. It will take place in four exhibition halls of the National Gallery of Iceland four halls of Reykjavík Art Museum. This exhibition is organized by the MIT List Visual Arts Center in collaboration with the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. It is co-curated by Natalie Bell, MIT List Visual Arts Center, and Helga Christoffersen, Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Coordinating curators for the Iceland edition of the exhibition are Markús Þór Andrésson, Reykjavík Art Museum, and Pari Stave, National Gallery of Iceland.

Steina Vasulka: Playback

Sara Riel

Black and white photo of artist Sara Riel

In what way do we try to make sense of nature, categorize, define and claim it? 

Nature appears in Sara's works in various ways, and at the heart is the relationship between man and the environment. 

Sara's subjects include flora, fauna, weather and even space. She uses exceptional artistry and resourcefulness to create engaging, visual interpretations of compelling issues. 

In the early winter of 2024, a new artwork in public space by Sara was unveiled in the underpass at Öskjuhlíð near the Meteorological Office. There she worked around on ideas about the weather, both graphically but also based on how weather appears in language and history. Among her best-known works are the murals on buildings in Æsufelli (Feather), on Skúlaguta (Glitter) and elsewhere. Both draw from the pictorial world of nature, birds and sea animals, but in Sara's treatment new phenomena are created that arouse wonder and attention.

Wonderland is a project dedicated to the history of Ásmundarsafn. This was the home and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982), which he designed himself and built in the years 1942-1950. The plot was adjacent to a farm called Undraland (Wonderland). Ásmundur bequeathed the house and his works to the city of Reykjavik after his day, 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 scene of vibrant artistic creation. Throughout the year 2025, artists are invited to elaborate on their own works in progress or any state of flux.

Sara Riel (1980) studied art at the Iceland University of the Arts and the Weißensee University of the Arts in Berlin, from where she graduated in 2006. She is known for wall works in public spaces, but at the same time she has works in many collections and has exhibited widely.


