Eggert Pétursson's sole focus is Icelandic flora. With dizzying effect, Pétursson's unique paintings of Iceland's seemingly barren landscape's minute tundra flowers reveal the universe within. At first glance, his paintings appear abstract, but closer inspection reveals them to be hyper-realistic. Each petal, stem, and leaf is created by an infinite regression of painstaking brush detail, captivating the viewer with a stunning composition of brush strokes in intricate colour combinations. The works range from detailed, realistic depictions of plants to a more abstract use of the medium, with layers of paint building up the image to a relief quality. Pétursson has earned a reputation as one of Iceland‘s most beloved landscape and lyrical artists due to his unwavering dedication and close ties to local traditions.
Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956, Iceland) lives and works in Reykjavik, Iceland. He studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts, Reykjavik, and the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. The artist has exhibited at The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik Art Museum, Museum Fodor, Amsterdam and Pori Art Museum, Finland. Pétursson received the second prize of the Carnegie Art Award 2006 (Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Nice).
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Kathy Butterly / Eggert Pétursson
19 Jan - 18 Mar 2023 i8 Galleryi8 Gallery is pleased to present Butterly / Pétursson, a two-person show featuring new work by American ceramicist Kathy Butterly and Icelandic painter Eggert Pétursson. The exhibition opens with a...Read more -
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
17 Aug - 30 Sep 2017 i8 GalleryEggert Pétursson: In his own words... I always had this space in mind when I was painting the works for this exhibition, all the way back to 2011. I had...Read more -
Transects
EGGERT PÉTURSSON, FRIEDERIKE VON RAUCH 4 Dec 2014 - 31 Jan 2015 i8 GalleryWhen Róska was a young star in Reykjavík, Barbara Árnason decorated her nails the way women in Turkey did in former times – which is where incessantly travelling British gentlewomen...Read more -
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
1 Nov - 23 Dec 2012 i8 GalleryFRAGMENTS OF A CONVERSATION WITH EGGERT PÉTURSSON Little is left to chance with how my work is created and often my ideas are not realised until many years later. For...Read more -
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
One Hundred Paintings 13 Sep - 21 Oct 2007 i8 GalleryThere is a story about a painting by Cezanne of apples and this work hung in the display window of a Parisian art dealer. A passer-by liked the work, stepped...Read more -
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
8 May - 21 Jun 2003Read more -
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
21 Jun - 28 Jul 2001 i8 GalleryPAINTING THE FLOOR Like most painters, Eggert Pétursson hangs his paintings on gallery walls. But unlike many paintings, his works are not openings to an illusory space. Very often they...Read more
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Are You Glad if You Can ask Something?
LÁ Art Museum, Hveragerði, Iceland 4 Jun - 4 Sep 2022A group show featuring works by i8 artists Ingólfur Arnarson, Eggert Pétursson, Kristján Guðmundsson, and Sigurður Guðmundsson opened June 4th at Iceland's LÁ Art Museum...Read more -
ETERNAL RECURRENCE
Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavik Art Museum 27 Mar - 19 Sep 2021In this extensive exhibition, the works of Jóhannes S. Kjarval (1885-1972) create a thread which connects different periods in time. His art is displayed along...Read more -
The Wildflower
Hafnarborg - Centre of Culture and Fine Art 29 Aug - 8 Nov 2020The Wildflower focuses a futuristic lens on that which is deeply familiar – our delicate flora clinging to rock – as it takes root in...Read more -
Eggert Pétursson: FLORA
Pori Art Museum, Finland 12 Feb - 28 Aug 2016From a distance, Eggert Pétursson’s (b. 1956) paintings may look like abstract colour compositions, but a closer look reveals that the motif is Icelandic flora,...Read more
b. 1956 in Reykjavik
Lives and works in Reykjavík
EDUCATION
1979 – 1981
Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
1976 – 1979
The Icelandic School of Art and Crafts, Reykjavik, Iceland
1974 – 1978 The Reykjavík Art School, Reykjavík, Iceland
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2016
Flora, Porin taidemuseo/Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
2013
1. h.v., with Carl Boutard, Reykjavik, Iceland
2012
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2003
Blómróf, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland
2001
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Kathy Butterly / Eggert Pétursson, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
2022
Are you glad if you can ask something?, LÁ Art Museum, Hveragerði, Iceland
2021
Eternal Recurrence, Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland
2020
The Wildflower, Hafnarborg - Center of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2019
Nordic Impressions - Contemporary Art from Åland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden, ASF + Scandinavia House, New York, USA
2017
List Officinalis, Nesstofa, Seltjarnarnes, Iceland
2016
Eggert Pétursson & Ingólfur Arnarsson, Gallerí Gestur, Reykjavik, Iceland
Gengið í björg with Helga Þorgils Friðjónssonar, Listasafni ASÍ, Reykjavik, Iceland
2015
Just Painted II, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2014
i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland
Ákall, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði, Iceland
Iceland: Artists Respond to Place, The Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, USA
Iceland: Artists Respond to Place, Scandinavia House, New York, NY, USA
2012
Tileinkun, The Golden Brush, Safn, Reykjavik, Iceland
BOOKWORKS
what we had in mind, with Carl Boutard, 1. h.v., Reykjavik 2013
Flora Islandica, Crymogea, Reykjavik 2008
No title, j9 in collaboration with i8 Gallery, Reykjavik 2007
Tvær bækur, with Ingólfur Arnarsson, Hong Kong Press, Gothenburg 1987
No title, Reykjavik 1987
No title, Maastricht 1981
what I had in mind, Maastricht 1980
Passing-Bells, Maastricht 1980
Smáhlutir, Reykjavik 1978
Samstarf, with Ingólfur Arnarsson, Reykjavik 1978
AWARDS
Order of the Falcon 2013
Carnegie Art Award 2006, 2nd prize.
COLLECTIONS
Albright Knox, Buffalo, USA
The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík
The Reykjavík Municipal Collection, Reykjavík
The Kópavogur Art Collection, Kópavogur
The University of Iceland Art Collection, Reykjavík
The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík
The Landsbanki Collection, Reykjavík
Safn, Reykjavik
Sammlung Goetz, Munich
EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Saastamoinen Collection, Espoo
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
and private collections in Iceland and elsewhere
Pori Art Museum
ILLUSTRATIONS
Pöddur, Landvernd, Reykjavík 1989
Íslandseldar, Vaka – Helgafell, Reykjavík 1986
Fjörulíf, Ferdafélag Íslands, Reykjavík 1986
Flóra Íslands, veggspjald Hins íslenska náttúrufrædifélags, Reykjavík 1985 and 1996
Íslensk Flóra med litmyndum, Idunn, Reykjavík 1983 and Forlagid, Reykjavík 1994
OTHER
Ljósberi, necklace made in collaboration with Sif Jakobs, Leonard, Reykjavík 2013
Smjörgras, necklace made in collaboration with Sif Jakobs, Leonard, Reykjavík 2011
Sóldögg, necklace made in collaboration with Sif Jakobs, Leonard, Reykjavík 2010
Blálilja, necklace made in collaboration with Sif Jakobs, Leonard, Reykjavík 2009
Hjartarfi, necklace made in collaboration with Sif Jakobs, Leonard, Reykjavík 2008
Circle, The Globe of Good Will 2007, The Benefit Society for Children with Disabilities, Reykjavík 2007
Eggert Pétursson - Paintings / Málverk, Crymogea, Reykjavik 2012
Calender for 2012, Landssamtökin Throskahjálp, Reykjavík 2011
Moldarljós, CD with music by Haukur Tómasson, Eyja, Reykjavík 2011
Flowerland, Crymogea with Nordatlantens Brygge, Reykjavík/Copenhagen 2009
Icelandic Art Today, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2009
Eggert Pétursson, The Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík 2007
Blomsterspråk, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2007
Indigo, The Golden Brush, The Kópavogur Art Museum, Kópavogur 2007
11years, A Decade of Contemporary Art, i8/Háskólaútgáfan, Reykjavík 2006
Carnegie Art Award 2006, Stockholm 2005
Floral Spectrums, The Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri 2003
Carnegie Art Award 2004, Stockholm 2003
i8, Reykjavík 2003
Gullpensillinn, The Reykjanes Art Museum, Keflavík 2002
Iceland Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, 0 Art Museum, Tokyo 2001
i8, Reykjavík 2001
Gullpensillinn, Kjarvalsstadir – The Reykjavík Municipal Museum, Reykjavík 2001
Pensillinn gullni, Gullpensillinn – félag listmálara, Reykjavík 1999
Lífædar, Art.is, Reykjavík 1999
Homages to Beauty, Gerdarsafn – The Kópavogur Art Museum, Kópavogur 1997
Views of Icelandic Nature, Kjarvalsstadir – The Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík 1996
Hyperfoto 1/95, Oslo 1995
A Wollemi Pine, Gerdarsafn – The Kópavogur Art Museum, Kópavogur 1995
Inter Nos, The Nordic Arts Center, Sveaborg, Finland 1992
Exhibition Catalogue, The Nordic House, Reykjavík 1990
Aurora 2, The Nordic Arts Center, Sveaborg, Finland 1987
KEX, Reykjavík, Stockholm, Oslo 1987
Treffen im Gebirge, The artists in collaboration with Seedorn Verlag, Zürich 1984
Iceland: The Art Revealed, Franklin Furnace, New York 1984
Thingummy, MOB-shop in collaboration with Kalejdoskop, Ahus, Sweden 1983
Thick Air, Museum Fodor, Amsterdam 1983
Amsterdam – Reykjavík, Across the Meridian, Museum Fodor, Amsterdam 1983
Chinese Intervals, Sondern 6, Seedorn Verlag, Zürich 1983
Iceland, Zona/Gallerí Sudurgata 7, Reykjavík 1979
Summer Music, (LP), Dieter Roth Verlag, Stuttgart 1979
Eight Notational Sketches, (cassette), Reykjavík 1979
