The National Gallery of Iceland

– A National Treasure

The National Gallery of Iceland is situated in four buildings in Reykjavík: the main building at Fríkirkjuvegur 7, The Culture House, The Ásgrímur Jónsson Collection and the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum.

The National Gallery of Iceland’s primary emphasis is collecting 20th and 21st-century Icelandic art; however, international art is also featured. The museum owns the most valuable collection of works by Icelandic artists in the country. The gallery was established in 1884 in Copenhagen, and the founding collection was based on gifts, mainly by Danish artists.

The current exhibitions at Fríkirkjuvegur 7 are the video installations Sumarnótt (former known as Death is Elsewhere) by internationally acclaimed Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, Hello Universe (Halló, geimur), which explores the fantastical world of outer space through the lens of works of art from the collection of the National Gallery and then the video installation Of the North by Steina Vasulka.

The exhibition National Treasures is in The Culture House, which showcases selected artworks from the collection. The Ásgrímur Jónsson museum in a walking distance is special because it is the artist’s former home. You enter his home and workshop, where his pictures of folklore and fairy tales are on display. In Sigurjón Ólafsson’s museum in Laugarnestangi, his sculptures are on display.

The admission fee is 2000ISK for adults, 1000ISK for 67 years and older and 1000ISK for students. The ticket is valid for all four museums.

– HDB