Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic art has been built on northern European traditions of the nineteenth century, but developed in distinct directions in the twentieth century, influenced in particular by the unique Icelandic landscape as well as by Icelandic mythology and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

. Contemporary Icelandic painting is typically traced to the work of Þórarinn Þorláksson, who, following formal training in art in the 1890s in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, returned to Iceland to paint and exhibit works from 1900 to his death in 1924, almost exclusively portraying the Icelandic landscape. Þorláksson was not the only Icelandic artist learning in Denmark at that time: there were several Icelanders, both men and women, at the Academy in the closing years of the century, and these included

Ásgrímur Jónsson Ásgrímur Jónsson (March 4, 1876 – April 5, 1958) was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely afte ...

, who together with Þorláksson created a distinctive portrayal of their home country's landscape in a romantic naturalistic style. Today, many of Icelandic artists are registered with The Association of Icelandic Artists. The Icelandic Art Center aims to represent Icelandic artists abroad. Every other year, Iceland participates in the Venice Biennale and has done so since 1960. Sigurður Guðjónsson, video artist, has been chosen to represent his country in the coming biennale, which opens in 2021. In 2019, Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir participated on behalf of Iceland. Before that, Egill Sæbjörnsson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale, in 2017. Christoph Büchel was chosen to represent Iceland in 2015, with his work "The Mosque", which was located in the church of Santa Maria della Misericordia. Iceland has one biennale, called the Sequences, which focuses on video and performances and has been held nine times. Artists Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Ingólfur Arnarsson were the curators of Sequences 2019. Iceland has many museums and galleries.

Landscape painting

The distinctive rendition of the Icelandic landscape by its painters can be linked to nationalism and the movement toward home rule and independence, which was very active in this period. Other landscape artists quickly followed in the footsteps of Þorláksson and Jónsson. These included Jóhannes Kjarval, Jón Stefánsson, and

Júlíana Sveinsdóttir Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (31 July 1889 – 17 April 1966) was one of Iceland's first female painters and textile artists. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, Júlíana settled in Denmark and returned to Icel ...

. Kjarval in particular is noted for the distinct techniques in the application of paint that he developed in a concerted effort to render the characteristic

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

that dominates the Icelandic environment.

The emergence of abstract art

Abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

became prominent in Iceland in the mid-twentieth century, spearheaded by artists such as Svavar Guðnason and

Nína Tryggvadóttir Nína Tryggvadóttir (March 16, 1913 – June 18, 1968) was born Jónína Tryggvadóttir in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. She was one of Iceland's most important abstract expressionist artists and one of very few Icelandic female artists of her g ...

. However some of the country's prominent artists working in that period eschewed abstractionism, such as

Gunnlaugur Scheving Gunnlaugur Óskar Scheving (8 June 1904 – 9 September 1972) was an Icelandic artist. He was one of Iceland's leading figurative painters and social realist painters of the 20th century. His art was part of a 1930s movement which broke with ...

who instead favoured narrative content and an approach to colour and form possibly influenced by

fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

and

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

; and

Louisa Matthíasdóttir Louisa Matthíasdóttir (February 20, 1917 – February 26, 2000) was an Icelandic- American painter. Louisa was born in Reykjavík. From 1925 to 1937 she grew up in the famous Höfði house since her family resided there. She showed artistic ab ...

, based in New York, who learned from

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

but nevertheless painted from life.

The return of figurative art

Einar Hákonarson Einar Hákonarson (born 14 January 1945, in Reykjavík, Iceland) is one of Iceland's best known artists. He is an expressionistic and figurative painter who brought the figure back into Icelandic painting in 1968. He is a pioneer in the Icelandi ...

's show in 1968 distinguished itself from its Icelandic art scene then current as Hákonarson’s paintings were pop, figurative and

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. This exhibition brought the figure back into the Icelandic painting, which had been dominated by the abstract art for years. Hakonarson said he was more influenced by feeling for nature, rather than by trying to paint a specific part of it.

Icelandic art from the late twentieth century

The portrayal of the landscape through visual art has remained a prominent (perhaps the most prominent) theme in Icelandic art to the present day, often reflected in the exhibitions at the country's

national gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. Its 2007 summer exhibition, for example, was called "Alas Nature!" and described as an exhibition which "aims to examine nature in a different light and from a different angle from what is generally accepted". Debate has occurred within the artistic community as to whether an appropriate balance has been struck in the support of galleries and public institutions for different media, traditions and subjects in Icelandic visual art.Einar Hákonarson, ''Biography'', http://www.einarhakonarson.com/bio.html. Retrieved July 2007.

References

Reading

* Ólafur Kvaran (ed.), ''Þórarinn B. Þorláksson: Pioneer at the Dawn of a Century'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2000. * Ólafur Kvaran and Karla Kristjánsdóttir (eds), ''Confronting Nature: Icelandic Art of the 20th Century'', National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, 2001. * Hrafnhildur Schram, Dagny Heiddal and Harpa Thórsdóttir, ''Patterns of Land and Colour: Júlíana Sveinsdóttir'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2003. * Jed Perl (ed.), ''Louisa Matthiasdottir'', Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1999,

External links

National Gallery of Iceland (Listasafn Íslands)

Reykjavik Art Museum

IcelandicArtCenter.IS – Center for Icelandic Art

LIST icelandic art news

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