Eggert Pétursson: Redden: Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland

Eggert Pétursson has long been recognised for his singular and passionate engagement with Icelandic nature and particularly with the flora of the country. In Hafnarborg, he presents new works, including paintings created especially for this exhibition over the past months. In these works, he continues his exploration of Icelandic nature, though this time his gaze turns slightly upward, toward the mountain slopes and the open sky.

Eggert is known for his precise observation of nature, where the smallest plants become part of a vast landscape on the canvas. In the new works, the same intimacy and sensitivity to colour and form can be seen, as vegetation and the surface of the earth are transformed into finely balanced compositions reflecting time, light and the shifting character of the land.

The exhibition also includes a series of new prints made for a forthcoming Icelandic translation of Paradise from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which recounts the soul’s journey toward light, peace and the divine. In Eggert’s work, this spiritual and symbolic world resonates with his earthly and material vision, revealing how he continues to draw from natural forms and patterns in a different context.

Through these works, Eggert once again leads the viewer into the living landscape that has long been his subject, now with a broader view of the land, where light and darkness meet. Here, his personal connection to nature merges with reflections on landscape, time and existence, in works that open both to the world around us and to inner reflection, echoing the human spirit’s enduring search for beauty and meaning.

Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956) lives and works in Reykjavík. He studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts and the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. His works have been exhibited at The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík Art Museum, Hafnarborg, Nordatlantens Brygge in Copenhagen and the Pori Art Museum in Finland. In 2006, Eggert received the second prize of the Carnegie Art Award (Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavík, Copenhagen and Nice). He also illustrated a popular edition of Icelandic Flora by Ágúst H. Bjarnason, first published in 1983. Eggert is represented by i8 Gallery in Reykjavík, where he has exhibited frequently, and his work has been the subject of several publications.

Curated by Aldís Arnardóttir.