On Museum Night, both venues of the National Gallery of Iceland will remain open until 11:00 PM, with free admission from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

Museum Night visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase an annual pass to our museums for the price of a single ticket 2,200 ISK.

Programme

Museum Night 2025

Fly, Fly Butterfly
February 8th and 22nd, 14:00–16:00
We flutter into the Museum, fly through the beautiful installation DeCore by Dodda Maggý, and then create our own butterflies to fly home with. We reflect on nature, symmetry, and patterns that appear to us every day.

Fly, Fly Butterfly

Krakkaklúbburinn Krummi

Intimacies of the Everyday
February 12th, 2 PM
Specialist led tour about the group exhibition Intimacies of the Everyday. The exhibition features more than 60 photographs by renowned international contemporary artists, including Agnieszka Sosnowska, Joakim Eskildsen, Niall McDiarmid, Orri Jónsson, and Sally Mann. The exhibition is curated by Pari Stave, head curator for exhibitions at the National Gallery of Iceland. The works in Intimacies of the Everyday were selected from discrete series within each artist’s practice and represent decades-long and ongoing preoccupations with photographing the people and places closest to home. The exhibition is organized around the unifying idea that certain images can only be achieved by close, attentive, and sustained observation.

Intimacies of the Everyday

Quality Moments

The National Gallery of Iceland offers a creative and exciting art course for children in its art workshop at Fríkirkjuvegur 7.

The course is inspired by the museum's exhibitions, where participants will explore the artworks while focusing on enhancing their color and form perception. Children will have the opportunity to use a variety of materials and work in different mediums such as painting and sculpture.

The aim of the course is to encourage children to approach visual art with greater confidence and curiosity. Teaching will take place through hands-on experiences, discussions, and artistic creation. At the end of the course, an exhibition will be held for friends and family to showcase the results of the children’s work.

Children should wear clothing suitable for painting, splashing, and having fun! The workshop is accessible to all.

Dates: January16th – April 10th, 2025
Time: Thursdays from 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Age: 10–12 years old (children born 2013–2015)

Price: 53,000 ISK
20% sibling discount
Limited spots available, with 8–10 children per course.

https://www.abler.io/shop/frirvk/listasafn/product/Q2x1YlNlcnZpY2U6MzQ4MDY=?

Full names and phone numbers of two guardians

Any additional relevant information (e.g., allergies or special needs)

Instructor: Marta María Jónsdóttir, artist and expert at the National Gallery of Iceland

Ages 10–12 (Children born 2013–2015)

The Workshop – Art Course for Spring Semester 2025

What Did I Do Today?
February 1st and 15th, 14:00–16:00
We explore our own everyday life and find inspiration from photographs in the exhibition Intimacies in the Everyday. The graphic novel format will be used in the workshop, with photographs also playing a role.  

What Did I Do Today?

Conversation between Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Ragnar Kjartansson

The artist Ragnar Kjartansson will have a conversation with Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir about the exhibition That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau. 
Commissed for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024, the exhibition will be reconceived for the National Gallery of Iceland. 
Hildigunnur is known for her nuanced artistic practice, which looks critically at the worldwide systems of production and distribution and the strange lives of the products they create. Her works draw attention to the small, disposable objects that are often the mass-produced accessories of material culture: packing materials, price tags, signage, and systems of display. She casts these objects in new roles, changing their value and meaning entirely as they are experienced outside of their original function.

Conversation between Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Ragnar Kjartansson

Good Thursday
On the last Thursday of every month, the National Gallery of Iceland will be open until 10:00 PM.
Follow the program of Good Thursdays on the National Gallery of Iceland's social media and website.

Good Thursday

Fly on the Wall
March 1st and 15th, 14:00–16:00
We will explore the work The Victorious Army by Magnús Tómasson in the exhibition Looking Inward, Looking Outward and a variety of flies in the form of sculptures will spring up from the workshop at the museum. Flies matter in the world, and it is interesting to reflect on their role in the ecosystem. They can also be colorful and in many sizes and shapes, just like all of us.

Fly on the Wall

Glacier Mice
March 8th and 22nd, 14:00–16:00
We meet in the Museum, enter an ice cave and explore glaciers of all sizes and shapes before creating our own glacier mice – the beautiful plants that gather on the sunny side of stones on glaciers – from stones, wool, and thread.

Glacier Mice

That’s a Very Large Number (Commerzbau)

Specialist led tour about the exhibition That’s a Very Large Number (Commerzbau). The exhibition was commissioned for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024, but will now be at the National Gallery of Iceland. 
Hildigunnur is known for her nuanced artistic practice, which looks critically at the worldwide systems of production and distribution and the strange lives of the products they create. Her works draw attention to the small, disposable objects that are often the mass-produced accessories of material culture: packing materials, price tags, signage, and systems of display. She casts these objects in new roles, changing their value and meaning entirely as they are experienced outside of their original function.

Pizza Pizza – Can Toy Pizza Be Artwork?
April 5th, 14:00–16:00
We create sculptures from found objects, transforming old items we no longer use into interesting works of art. In this kids' club, you're welcome to bring small items that are no longer in use and need a new purpose. Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir’s exhibition that’s a Very Large Number — A Commerzbau will inspire us, where among other artworks there is an oversized toy pizza.

Can Toy Pizza Be Artwork?

Children's Culture Festival – The Trolls in the Mountains
April 12th, 14:00–16:00
We draw large trolls with the famous author Brian Pilkington and take a picture with the troll Tufta, who visits the main hall of the Museum during the Children’s Culture Festival.

The Trolls in the Mountains

Children's Culture Festival

Curator led tour – The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries


Curator Dagný Heiðdal and conservator Ólafur Ingi Jónsson welcome guests to the exhibition The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries. The exhibition examines fakes and forgeries that have come to light based on recent research. It traces how experts in the museum field authenticate objects in the collections that are under their care – a process that requires expertise in conservation science, art history, and connoisseurship.


The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries

Curator led tour

Curator led tour – The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries
April 23rd, 2 PM

Curator Dagný Heiðdal and Conservator Ólafur Ingi Jónsson welcome guests to the exhibition The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries. The exhibition examines fakes and forgeries that have come to light based on recent research. It traces how experts in the museum field authenticate objects in the collections that are under their care – a process that requires expertise in conservation science, art history, and connoisseurship.

Curator led tour – The Mystery of the Lumpfish and Other Stories of Fakes and Forgeries

I Stood Outside in the Moonlight
April 26th, 14:00–16:00
We will explore Finnur Jónsson's artworks about  elves and the Elf Queen, as well as Óskasteinar (Wish Stones) by Björg Þorsteinsdóttir, which are on display in the Museum. Afterward, we will create our own sparkling wish stones that will last a lifetime. What do you wish for?

I Stood Outside in the Moonlight

On the Street Corner of Poetry and Visual Art
April 27th
Reading and book launch in the reading room of the museum at Hverfisgata. The event will take place during the Reykjavík Literature Festival 2025.
Further details and timing will be announced later.



Book launch

On the Street Corner of Poetry and Visual Art

Conversation with the artist Christian Marclay
Conversation with artist Christian Marclay in the reading room of the Museum at Hverfisgata, in connection with the exhibition Christian Marclay The Clock at the National Gallery of Iceland.
The talk will be held in English.

The renowned masterwork The Clock (2010) will be shown at the National Gallery at Fríkirkjuvegur from May 2nd to June 22nd 2025. This is an epic, 24-hour single channel video with sound. Winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 2011 Venice Biennale and widely acclaimed as one of the most significant works of art of the 21st century, The Clock is both a profound meditation about time and an homage to the history of cinema. 

Conversation with the artist Christian Marclay

Artist led tour – Intimacies of the Everyday

Artist led tour with Orri Jónsson and Agnieszka Sosnowska through the group exhibition Intimacies of the Everyday. The exhibition features more than 60 photographs by renowned international contemporary artists, including Agnieszka Sosnowska, Joakim Eskildsen, Niall McDiarmid, Orri Jónsson, and Sally Mann. Curated by Pari Stave, head curator for exhibitions at the National Gallery of Iceland, the works in Intimacies of the Everyday were selected from discrete series within each artist’s practice and represent decades-long and ongoing preoccupations with photographing the people and places closest to home. The exhibition is organized around the unifying idea that certain images can only be achieved by close, attentive, and sustained observation.

Artist led tour

The Flying Bird
May 10th and 24th, 14:00–16:00
We explore birds in the exhibition Resistance; white ravens, the famous lapwing, and the swans with long necks, and paint our own beautiful birds that will fly with us into the summer. The bird workshop on May 24th is the last workshop of the winter season in the kids' club, but a new program will be released in the fall.

The Flying Bird

What Time Is It?
May 17th, 14:00–16:00
After visiting the exhibition The Clock, we reflect on time and create our own clocks that we can set to the time that works best for each person. Large and small clocks, alarm clocks, watches, mantel clocks that are new and old, funny, decorative, or simple.

What Time Is It?

Sigríður Regína Sigurþórsdóttir, an expert in time-based media, will discuss the artwork The Clock and the artistic career of Christian Marclay. The lecture will also cover time-based media and its development in art history.
The event will be held in the museum’s new educational space.
Guests will also have access to the exhibition.

Lecture

Christian Marclay, The Clock

Curator led tour – Kristján H. Magnússon – Revisited

Curator led tour by Dagný Heiðdal about the exhibition Kristján H. Magnússon -- Revisited. 
Kristján Helgi Magnússon’s paintings made a great impression when he made his entrance onto the art scene nearly 100 years ago. His reputation was not confined to Iceland, as he also held exhbitions of his art in cities on both sides of the Atlantic, where critics praised his landscapes, portraits and still lifes. In Iceland, on the other hand, the response to his art was mixed, and today few people are familiar with his work; his name is rarely mentioned in discourse on Icelandic art. Nonetheless his contribution to art is extensive, and interesting in many ways. In a forthcoming retrospective, the National Gallery of Iceland will showcase the works of this short-lived artist, who died in 1938 aged only 34, after a brief but interesting career.

Kristján H. Magnússon – Endurlit

Leiðsögn sýningarstjóra

Curator led conversation with Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir 
May 31st, 2 PM
Curator Dan Byers will have a conversation with Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir about the exhibition That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau. 
Commissioned for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024, the exhibition will be reconceived at the National Gallery of Iceland. 
Hildigunnur is known for her nuanced artistic practice, which looks critically at the worldwide systems of production and distribution and the strange lives of the products they create. Her works draw attention to the small, disposable objects that are often the mass-produced accessories of material culture: packing materials, price tags, signage, and systems of display. She casts these objects in new roles, changing their value and meaning entirely as they are experienced outside of their original function.

Curator led conversation with Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir

listasafn_islands_Updated_V2_compressed.mp4

The National Gallery of Iceland is a national art museum and places the main emphasis on 19th and 20th century art, Icelandic and foreign. It has the most significant collection of Icelandic works in this country and by all the nation's leading artists.

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Looking Inward, Looking Outward: 140 years of the National Gallery of Iceland

Resistance, Interplay of Art and Science

The House of Collections

Resistance

Stay and turn to stone!
Folklore in Icelandic Art

Discover the treasures of Icelandic Art at the National Gallery of Iceland

The museum owns over 15,000 artworks

Find what you want in the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland

Upcoming events

Intimacies of the Everyday (exhibition poster)

140 works from the Collection of the National Gallery

Necklace Fisherman by Finnur Jónsson

Museum online store

One ticket is valid for both houses that can be visited on the same day or at any time.

Discover the treasures of Icelandic Art at the National Gallery of Iceland

Looking Inward, Looking Outward: 140 years of the National Gallery of Iceland

Intimacies of the Everyday

Resistance

Stay and turn to stone! Folklore in Icelandic Art

Find what you want in the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland

Upcoming events

Museum online store

Resistance

Two locations — one museum

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