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BARTENDERS´ CHOICE AWARDS

National Gallery Of Iceland

Rúrí: Glassrain

Glassrain is an installation from 1984, one of the first of many works that address the theme of time and menace by Icelandic artist Rúrí. Born in 1951, Rúrí has become one of the most distinguished artists in Northern Europe. A pioneer in performance art in Scandinavia, she has never limited herself to just one discipline but has presented her work through a variety of mediums. But a consistent theme in nearly all her work is philosophical questions about identity, time, relativity and the environment. Glassrain comprises 500 razor-sharp fragments of glass of different lengths that hang menacingly from the ceiling. The exhibition opens on March 4 at the National Gallery.

The Private Collection

At the beginning of 2022, the art collection of Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir and her husband, entrepreneur Þorvaldur Guðmundsson, owner of Síld og fiskur, was placed in the permanent keeping of the National Gallery of Iceland. The collection, which comprises about 1400 works by many of Iceland‘s leading artists, will be catalogued as part of the National Gallery collection, and the works of art will be digitised on a publicly-accessible database. A workshop and live exhibition will be installed in Gallery 3 on the upper floor of the National Gallery, where visitors can observe the work of the cataloguing team. At the same time, a selection of works from the collection will be displayed in Gallery 4, with a focus on animals, large and small, in Icelandic nature.

Forty Years of the Corridor

The Corridor is an artist-run exhibition space founded by artist Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson in 1979, and it is probably Iceland’s longest-running privately-operated gallery. The Corridor has always been housed in Helgi Þorgils‘ home, and his principal objective was to present the work of contemporary artists from other countries in Iceland. With the first exhibition premiering in 1980, 2020 marked the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Corridor. However, the pandemic affected the exhibition, and only now were all the works collected for this celebratory exhibition in the National Gallery of Iceland.

Sgr Mur J Nsson Collection

A Window in Reykjavík –Ásgrímur Jónsson’s house

The exhibition A Window in Reykjavík comprises a selection of works by Ásgrímur Jónsson. The common feature of these works is that they relate to the artist’s surroundings in Reykjavík. The works form part of the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland; Ásgrímur Jónsson bequeathed to the Icelandic nation all his works of art, along with his home and studio at Bergstaðastræti 74, Reykjavík.

Ásgrímur Jónsson (1876–1958) is one of the pioneers in the history of Icelandic art; he was the first Icelandic painter to make a career in art. The view from the window of Vinaminni, where he first lived on his return to Iceland, became a favourite motif for him, with its vista of Reykjavík Harbour and Mt. Esja across the bay. The view to the south from the skylight of his studio at Bergstaðastræti would later also inspire him. Watercolour was an appropriate medium for capturing the quality of the light over the waters of Skerjafjörður and the houses on Laufásvegur. Ásgrímur’s life and oeuvre span a long period of Iceland’s history – a time when the old rural society was starting to decline and Reykjavík was growing from a town into a city. Many of Ásgrímur’s paintings from Reykjavík, painted in the first half of the 20th century, depict a peaceful little town where houses cluster along the ocean shore; yet they also show economic activity, such as workmen building roads as the new urban society evolves.

Reykjavik Art Museum Kjarvalssta Ir

Kaleidoscope:

Icelandic 20th-Century Art Kaleidoscope is the title of an exhibition series where we examine artworks in the Reykjavík Art Museum’s collection. In 2023, the museum celebrates fifty years since the opening of the museum’s first location at Kjarvalsstaðir. To mark this occasion, special attention is paid to the museum collection, with an opportunity to view and display treasures therefrom. Presently, the museum collection holds over seventeen thousand registered artworks of all types and created in various media, from sketches and drafts by Kjarval to contemporary works by young and old artists. Kaleidoscope of the 20th century is presented at Kjarvalsstaðir, but the Kaleidoscope of the 21st century will be on display in Hafnarhús from 6 June, and Kaleidoscope of international art from the collection in Hafnarhús until 7 May.

The exhibition Kaleidoscope –

Icelandic Art in the 20th Century gives an insight into Icelandic art during the last century through the part of our cultural heritage that is preserved at Reykjavík Art Museum. The museum belongs to the city of Reykjavík, and there with its citizens. Now is a chance to become acquainted with its collection.

The National Museum Of Iceland

The Making of a Nation Heritage and History in Iceland

The National Museum of Iceland’s permanent exhibition, Making of a Nation – Heritage and History in Iceland, is intended to provide insight into the history of the Icelandic nation from the settlement to the present day. The aim is to cast light on the Icelanders’ past by placing the cultural heritage preserved by the National Museum in a historical context, guided by the question: what makes a nation? The exhibition includes about 2,000 objects dating from the Settlement Age to the present, as well as about 1,000 photographs from the 20th century. The exhibition is conceived as a journey through time: it begins with the ship in which mediaeval settlers crossed the ocean to their new home, and it ends in a modern airport, the Icelanders’ gateway to the world.

My Favourite Things

Although this exhibition is not necessarily new, it deserves more attention. My Favourite Things, which, at first glance, looks just like a list of things people left behind when they died. But these probates tell us how Icelanders lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, what they owned, and how their lives differed from people in different classes. The exhibition juxtaposes information gathered from probate inventorieswhat people had in their possession when they passed away - preserved at the National Archives and the artefact collections of the National Museum in order to dive into the material world of Icelanders from earlier centuries. What did people possess? How much worth was their belongings? How do the possessions of people of the past reflect in the preserved cultural heritage of the nation?

Rúnar Gunnarsson: An Eternity in a Moment

Opening on March 11 at The Photo Gallery in the National Museum is an exhibition of photographs by Rúnar Gunnarsson. Born in 1944, Rúnar grew up in Reykjavík during its rapid transformation into a modern city. His photographs capture the city and its complex human life. His collection contains over 100,000 photographs, which have been the subject of several exhibitions and books. Rúnar is still active, with a camera up in the air, capturing glimpses of our time.

Light and Play

Adjacent to An Eternity in a Moment is another photography exhibition at the National Museum titled Light and Play. It consists of six photo albums by Ragnheiður Bjarnadóttir. This personal collection depicts an individual’s journey from childhood to adulthood and sheds light on the multi-layered meaning of photography.

Rb R Open Air Museum

Árbær was an established farm well into the 20th century, and the museum opened there in 1957. Árbær is now an open-air museum with more than 20 buildings which form a town square, a village and a farm. Most of the buildings have been relocated from central Reykjavik.Árbær Open Air Museum tries to give a sense of the architecture and way of life and lifestyles of the past in Reykjavík and during summer visitors can see domestic animals. There are many exhibitions and events held at the Museum, which highlight specific periods in Reykjavik’s history. These include craft days, vintage car displays, Christmas exhibitions and much more. There is something for everyone at Árbær Open Air Museum.

Karólína the Weaver

Karólína Guðmundsdóttir (1897-1981) learned weaving in Copenhagen, and for several decades she ran a weaving atelier on Ásvallagata in Reykjavík. She wove upholstery and curtain fabrics for public bodies, businesses and homes, where the colours and textures harmonised with their surroundings. Her embroidery fabrics were used in school pupils‘ needlework projects for many years, and embroidered wall-hangings and cushions from Karólína‘s atelier adorned many Icelandic homes. She was thus an influence upon Icelanders‘ home furnishings and taste. In addition, her work led people to recognise the fine qualities of Icelandic wool and changed attitudes to crafts and needlework.

Consumption - Reykjavík in the 20th century

The exhibition aims to show the huge and rapid changes that took place in consumption patterns in Reykjavík during the 20th century –to explore the factors that affected consumption, and how technical advances, government actions, wars, and events in Iceland and abroad influenced the daily life of the people of Reykjavík.