The Erro Collection - graphic works

Erro's art pretty much reprocesses imagery that could be found in the times we live in. He takes his material straight out of the image bank of the world – overload with images printed in all sorts of formats. He arranges the images that he has collected into collages and then transfers them onto his canvas and paints. Collages are also Erro's sources when he creates works out of other media like watercolor, printmaking, baked-enamel and carving.

Gudmundur Gudmundsson - who adopted the pseudonym Erró - was born 1932 in Ólafsvík on the northwestern coast of Iceland. He graduated as a teacher in arts from the Fine Art School of Reykjavík in 1951. In the years 1952-1954 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, Norway, where he participated in study trips to Spain and Italy and experienced the art of Hieronymus Bosch among others in museums and exhibitions. In 1954 he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Art in Florence, and the following year he studied at an art college in Ravenna where emphasis was placed on mosaic. Erró decided to settle in Paris in 1958 where his work eventually became known as part of the Narration Figuration Movement.

Erró's works can to be found in museums and public collections all over the world. In 1999 there was a large scale retrospective exhibition of his works in National Gallery Jeu de Paume in Paris and an extensive exhibition here in Hafnarhús of The Reykjavík Art Museum in 2001. Erró donated a large collection of his works to the City of Reykjavík in 1989, which serves as the foundation for the Erró collection of the museum. Erró divides his time between Paris, Formentera and Thailand remains tremendously inspired and active as an artist.