Miriam's Moments

Art and Culture in Reykjavik, Iceland

In addition to the glorious natural beauty of Iceland, Iceland has produced some wonderful artists working in several different media.

Einar Jonsson (1874-1954) was the first Icelandic sculptor to make a career in his art. His first works focused on depicting reality, inspired by Icelandic folklore, psychology and emotions, as well as Greek and Norse mythology. After 1903, he subscribed to Symbolism, emphasizing its ideological content, imagination, fantasy and spiritual aspects rather than its style. From 1910 on he made allegorical works, and also produced many statues of renowned Icelanders around the city and elsewhere, among them Jon Sigurdsson, leader of the Icelandic Independence movement in 19th century. In 1909 he offered all his works to the Parliament if they would build a museum to house them. Funds were raised and it opened its doors in 1923, the first Icelandic museum open to the public, showing works of Einar's 60 year career. He and his wife lived on the top floor, with a kitchen and bath on the ground floor. After his death she remained director. In the lovely garden behind are displayed 26 bronze casts of his works.

front (above) and back (below)

In the garden some of my favorites are the following:

Mother Earth

Sleep

Light and Shade

Mother and Child

Spring

Thor Wrestling with Age

Fate

Monument to Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-74), among Iceland's foremost poets who wrote the Passion Hymns (read and sung during Lent for centuries). Behind is the iconic church named after him. At the front of the sculpture is the suffering poet and his spiritual strength. The people of Iceland figure below his poems.

Inside the museum are the plaster casts, other sculptures and paintings of many of the sculptures:

The Poet (Jonas Hallgrimsson, 1807-1845)

(1904) Grief and Joy: 2 female faces in opposite directions, one displaying joy, the other sorrow (2 faces of the same person). Between them stand a man and a woman back to back holding hands. The work may also be interpreted in light of relationships and marriage.

Ingofur, Iceland's first permanent settler (874) who made his home in Reykjavik

"Dawn". Stories of night trolls that turn to stone if caught in the rays of the sun are common in Icelandic folklore. The best known is of a girl left alone in charge of the farmstead on Christmas night. By exchanging stories with him all night she wins, and he is turned to stone. Victory of spirit over matter, light over darkness, good over evil.

The Spell Broken: A knight saves the girl from the dragon (representing heathenism in the St. George legend). In gratitude the townspeople adopt the Christian religion. Or human will throwing off fetters that confined it.

Deliverance: Christ carrying a person on His shoulders.

The child and adult show the cycle of life and death.

The Octopus:A large octopus emerges from a shell and human figures are entangled in its tentacles, a man fighting the octopus, symbolizing the human struggle for spiritual freedom and autonomy.

The amazingly talented hands of a truly remarkable artist

Statue of Christ (1946) at the moment He received the Holy Spirit. The model was 18 year old Gudmundur Gudmundsson (1927097) who went on to be a labor leader and parliamentarian. The face is not his, only the hands and neck.