Selection from the Ásmundur Sveinsson Collection

This exhibition contains works that span the entire career of Ásmundur Sveinsson and show how his artistic vision developed throughout his life. Among the oldest works are sculptures that he created as a student at the Royal Institute of Art in Sweden. Later came works based on common people, folk tales and nature. Finally, the exhibition contains a number of abstract works created in the last decades of Sveinsson’s life.

Ásmundur Sveinsson was one of the pioneers of Icelandic sculpture and was inspired by Icelandic nature and literature, as well as by ordinary labourers. His massive and sometimes provocative works are akin to the formations that can be seen in Icelandic nature. Even though Sveinsson’s primary visual inspiration was national in origin, he nevertheless managed to remain current with the main trends in international art, all the while giving them a local flavour.