HÚS ÁSGRÍMS JÓNSSONAR A PAINTER’S HOME IN REYKJAVIK, ICELAND Guest Post by Caroline Hatton at The Intrepid Tourist

Mt. Esja, seen from Vinaminni by Asgrimur Jonsson, 1910.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, visited this museum and took the photos in this post in June 2023.

I love visiting homes-turned-museums, because I can imagine the notable occupants moving through their days and using each area. Hús Ásgríms Jónssonar was the home of Ásgrímur Jónsson (1876-1958), the first Icelandic painter to pursue art for a living.

Before walking from my hotel to the museum, I looked up its location at Bergstaðastræti 74. All I would have to do was go right, left, then right on that Berg… Berg… Berg-something street, and spot the little house halfway down the block. So that’s what I did that lovely 13^oC (55^oF) morning, turning right on Bergþórugata, where the museum was nowhere to be found. But I walked on, turned left, and left again on the next Berg-something street, and found the place!

The museum is in a small 1928 house. When Ásgrímur* died, he left it, with its contents and thousands of his works, to the people of Iceland.

*Icelanders refer to one another by first name, because surnames are patronymic, identifying only the father by his first name: Jónsson means Jón’s son.

Ground-level room in Asgrimur's home.

Inside, I wondered, did he play the piano?

Second ground-level room.

What was his favorite book?

Second ground-level room.

Did a loved one make this quilt for him?

Whole upper-floor studio.

Studio.

When I visited, the temporary exhibition was “A Window in Reykjavík,” a collection of paintings of views out the windows of the artist’s homes in Reykjavik. My favorite was a 1910 painting, “Mt. Esja, seen from Vinaminni” (photo at the top of this post). It shows the view from the house where the painter lived at the time (not the museum house where I stood).

Paint spots on the floor of the studio.

His main source of inspiration was nature. He was also first to draw pictures based on Icelandic sagas, and folk and fairy tales. And he turned out to be a children’s book illustrator when a series of children’s readers illustrated with his art was published, beginning in 1907.

In his studio, I looked at sample copies of books sold on site. The reproductions I liked best were 1910s watercolor landscapes: immense horizons, wild rivers below giant glaciers, moody weather, the kind of vision that keeps drawing me back to Iceland.

FOR MORE INFO

 Read Caroline Hatton’s guest posts about Walking Around Reykjavik Part 1 and Part 2.

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

WALKING AROUND REYKJAVIK, ICELAND, Part II, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Reykjavik, Iceland. Looking down from the Hallgrimskirkja church tower: Across the street, Einar Jonsson Sculpture Museum and Garden.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, loved strolling through Reykjavik in June 2023 and taking all photos in this post. This is Part 2 of her report. Part 1 appeared last week.

I stayed near the far end of Lauvavegur, the main shopping street downtown. From there, I walked in a few minutes to the seashore and in less than half an hour to everything else I saw. Here are some outdoor highlights.

THE EINAR JONSSON SCULPTURE MUSEUM GARDEN

Glima (wrestling) or is it tango? Sculpture by Einar Jonsson, 1912-1927.

Online photos of the late Einar Jonsson’s sculptures didn’t show anything I liked, so I didn’t want to pay to visit the museum building. But walking through the surrounding garden was free, a chance to see a variety of sculptures I did find interesting.

Sorg (grief), sculpture by Einar Jonsson 1926-1927.

The garden sculptures’ balletic grace and emotional impact were a pleasant surprise.

CORRUGATED-IRON-CLAD BUILDINGS

Old corrugated-metal-clad home.

After realizing for the first time that a nearby building was covered with painted corrugated metal, I started seeing many more everywhere, primary red, blue, and yellow, grass green, pastels, black, white, gray, khaki, sage, merlot, burgundy, moss green, eggplant! Corrugated-iron-clad buildings are uniquely Icelandic and Reykjavik has the largest cluster in the world. After living in turf homes for about a thousand years, Icelanders started building wooden and stone houses, then covering wooden ones with imported corrugated iron. The metal layer kept occupants warm and dry in fierce wind and rain, and safer from fire.

Modern corrugated-metal-clad home.

Most of Reykjavik’s ironclad homes were built between 1880 and 1925, but I saw one modern example.

 STREET FOOD

Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, Icelandic hotdog stand on the right. One of many locations.

As a last outdoor experience to write about, the only street food I tasted was a famous Icelandic specialty… a hotdog, from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. At noon on a June Thursday, I was the 20^th in line at the hotdog stand. Of the standard trimmings, chopped raw onions, crispy onions, ketchup, mustard, and remoulade, I wanted only crispy onions (which went in the bun first, with the hotdog on top to hold them down) and the mustard (a mushroom mustard which was tan-colored and mild-tasting). The thin long hotdog was a mix of lamb, beef, and pork meat. I almost never eat the first two and rarely the third, but I made an exception for the sake of a cultural experience. It was a satisfying lunch on a sidewalk bench and it cost only 690 Icelandic kronur (US $5), which is uncharacteristically cheap for food in Iceland.

 Before and after this lunch, I visited museums, but that’s another story.

 

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com