Kjarval Complete 2 – The Banks‘ Collections

Icelandic banks have purchased and conserved many works by Icelandic artists. This exhibition offers the unprecedented opportunity to see all the works of Jóhannes S. Kjarval in the collections of three banks. The works have been loaned by Arion Bank, Íslandsbanki and Landsbanki; these hang in offices, meeting rooms and public spaces of banks around the country, and few of them have been displayed in public exhibitions before.

The exhibition comprises a diverse range, including works intended as ornamentation for bank buildings, and portraits of bank directors, as well as pieces purchased from the artist or on the open market. The works are hung in the exhibition in the Salon style, regardless of theme, period or subject.

The exhibition is a continuation of the Reykjavík Art Museum’s efforts to provide as comprehensive a view as possible of Kjarval’s oeuvre. Last year the Museum brought out all its own Kjarval works and displayed them in the same way, in the Kjarval Complete show. The Museum hopes that these events will enable visitors to get to know the many different sides of this complex artist, and establish new bonds with his work.