Samsýning / Group Exhibition

Níels Hafstein

A sonata in 7th major, clear, white, blue, brown and black with golden and silver nuances. The exhibition draws on different ideologies, methods and techniques, but yet the works form a harmony. It refers to the museum’s first opening in 1998, when for the first time in the history of Icelandic art, a single display brought together contemporary art, folk art, mass-produced goods, natural objects, photographs and handicrafts. With this unexpected trickery, an atmosphere of ingenuity, lightness and excitement was created with a flow between the rooms of the museum. The exhibition contains 135 works by 33 women, 36 men and unknown artists.

Exhibition

Creating from the Collection

Wheelchair Access

The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir. For over 30 years the founders have been passionately committed to collecting artworks by artists who have been seen as outside the cultural mainstream. These are sometimes called naïve or outsider artists but in fact they have a real and direct connection to an original creative spirit; true, unspoiled and free. The museum is unique in Iceland, initially collecting artworks by all major contemporary folk artists and autodidacts in Iceland. Those artworks form the core of the collection, while the museum has also gradually acquired an excellent collection of art by professional contemporary artists, whose works are in line with the museum’s exhibition and collection policy. It is of importance that all the artworks presented are on an equal footing. The core collection consists today of artworks and sketches by over 300 artists, dating from the mid-19th century to the present. 