{"id":13814,"date":"2025-05-26T13:12:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T13:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/?post_type=event&p=13814"},"modified":"2025-06-05T15:02:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T15:02:57","slug":"opening-of-substance-and-essence-and-an-ode-to-colours","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/event\/opening-of-substance-and-essence-and-an-ode-to-colours\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening \u2013 Of Substance and Essence and An Ode to Colours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday May 29th at 2 p.m.<\/strong>, we warmly welcome you to the opening of two new exhibitions at Hafnarborg. This time, we present Of Substance and Essence<\/em>, which looks back on the long and diverse career of the artist Eir\u00edkur Smith, and An Ode to Colours<\/em>, featuring late works by Sveinn Bj\u00f6rnsson, created with great passion and vibrant colour, in the museum\u2019s lower gallery. The exhibitions are held to mark what would have been the centenary of both artists, had they lived to see it.<\/p>\n

Eir\u00edkur Smith: Of Substance and Essence<\/strong>
\nThe career of Eir\u00edkur Smith (1925-2016) was both long and diverse. He approached painting as a form of expression and left behind a body of work that reveals a remarkable command of subjects as different as geometric abstraction, expressive abstract painting and realist imagery. The human figure is often placed in the foreground while the land and the works of humankind create a powerful setting. Over time, his approach changed considerably, in step with the spirit of the times, but also because the artist deliberately sought new directions.<\/p>\n

Eir\u00edkur\u2019s artistic journey can be likened to a pendulum that swings between two poles. He drew inspiration both from the subjective and the objective and in the later stages of his career there are periods in which he moves between the two. In these works, one senses the artist\u2019s reconciliation with the idea that life is best lived in balance, in a state of harmony that is both of substance and essence. Curated by Ald\u00eds Arnard\u00f3ttir, the exhibition presents select works from across Eir\u00edkur\u2019s career, alongside early drawings from his student years in Copenhagen and Paris.<\/p>\n

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Sveinn Bj\u00f6rnsson: An Ode to Colours<\/strong>
\nSveinn Bj\u00f6rnsson (1925\u20131997) was a prolific artist who lived most of his life in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Sveinn primarily worked with paintings but also created drawings, collages and ceramic works. The works in this exhibition are all from the last period of his career when he devoted himself entirely to abstract oil painting, where colour became both his subject and source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

Here, the interplay of pure and strong colours is revealed in dynamic strokes, where hues blend to form new tones. Sveinn had a deep connection to nature and his studio in Kr\u00fdsuv\u00edk became a sanctuary, where the colours of the land and sky were a constant source of inspiration. Sveinn was educated at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and his works have been exhibited widely, both in Iceland and Denmark. Many of his works are held in public collections, including a large mosaic at the Su\u00f0urb\u00e6jarlaug swimming pool in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Curated by Sigr\u00fan Inga Hr\u00f3lfsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n

Free entry \u2013 see you at Hafnarborg.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday May 29th at 2 p.m., we warmly welcome you to the opening of two new exhibitions at Hafnarborg. This time, we present Of Substance and Essence, which looks back on the long and diverse career of the artist Eir\u00edkur Smith, and An Ode to Colours, featuring late works by Sveinn Bj\u00f6rnsson, created with great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13756,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","class_list":["post-13814","event","type-event","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/13814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/13814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13846,"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/13814\/revisions\/13846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.hafnarborg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}