Reykjavik Night Museums

I had a few more days in Reykjavik before heading on to Britain, but I had seen nearly all there is to see in the small capital, so I spent quite a bit of time reading comics in the library, playing video games in an internet cafe, and updating this blog about the end of my time Korea to keep up appearances. Wow, I feel exceedingly dorky admitting that, but I'm pretty ok with my nerdiness. One day there was (oddly) a concert in the library where what looked like junior high or high school students rocked out in the normally quiet space.

I was lucky enough to have the season's Night at the Museums fall during this time. All of the city museums and attractions were open well into the evening for free showings. I had been to most of them but had not yet managed to see the Einar Jónsson museum, which sits right next to the emblematic basalt-themed church I mentioned earlier. Jónsson presciently realized that this hill (which was completely undeveloped at the time) would become the center of Reykjavik and so picked it as the location for his museum. He donated his life's work to Iceland on the condition that the museum be built to house it. He designed the building and lived in it as he continued to work.

I had seen a few of Einar Jónsson's statues and correctly predicted that this would be my favorite collection of Icelandic art. I probably would have photographed all of the statues had it been permitted, so instead I only took pictures of the best lit of the ones outside.

The statues use powerful imagery to address topics such as death, relationships, and religion.

The other museums mostly had the same art up that I had seen earlier in my visit, though there were a few new exhibits, including one in process where the artist was dripping paint down the windows of the museum itself. 

Another new work was a light sculpture on the pillars of the city hall. The changing lights reflected perfectly in the lake, doubling the length of the columns.