Jóhannes Kjarval

Jóhannes Sveinsson was born on October 15, 1885, in Meðalland. Working as a North Atlantic fisherman in his youth, he took the historic Gaelic-Norse name Kjarval and studied painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, followed by travels in Italy and France.

Kjarval was an eccentric, visionary bohemian who set up his easel directly out in the windswept Icelandic wilderness for months at a time. He painted moss-covered lava fields, glaciers, and basalt cliffs with kaleidoscopic, tactile impasto, seeing faces of elves and ancient spirits in every crag. In 1973, the Reykjavík Art Museum opened Kjarvalsstaðir in his honor, and his portrait adorns the Icelandic 2,000-króna bill.