Kjarvalsstaðir
Modernist pavilion in Klambratún park showing Jóhannes Kjarval and modern Icelandic art.
Kjarvalsstaðir opened in 1973 as the first building in Iceland purpose-built as an art museum. It was designed by Hannes Kr. Davíðsson in a restrained Nordic modernist idiom: a long, low pavilion of exposed concrete, dark timber and full-height glazing, arranged around a central lobby with two wings and a sheltered courtyard. The site is the park of Klambratún, formerly Miklatún, so that the galleries look directly out onto lawns and trees on almost every side.
The museum is named after Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval, the painter who shaped the way Icelanders picture their own landscape and who gave a large body of work to the city in 1968. The east wing shows changing selections from the Kjarval holdings, while the west wing carries temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, architecture and design. Kjarvalsstaðir forms part of Reykjavík Art Museum together with Hafnarhús on the old harbour and Ásmundarsafn in Laugardalur.
Highlights
- Iceland's first purpose-built art museum building
- Changing displays from the city's Jóhannes Kjarval collection
- Glazed pavilion set in Klambratún park
- Idea Lab family workshop space and museum café
