On Sunday, January 18 at 14:00, Þröstur Helgason, literary scholar, will discuss the visual art of Eggert Pétursson based on the exhibition Roði, currently on display at Hafnarborg. Þröstur will place the works in the context of Eggert’s career and will focus particularly on his use of the color red. The lecture will also highlight a series of works by Eggert where blue is prominent. The discussion will cover the significance of these colors and how they have been used in visual art throughout history. Graphic works by Eggert in the exhibition will also be highlighted.

The exhibition features paintings created by Eggert specifically for this occasion, continuing his exploration of Icelandic nature and now directing his gaze upward – toward mountain vegetation and the open sky. Tiny plants are transformed into a grand landscape, where vegetation and the earth’s surface are composed into a refined pictorial structure reflecting time, light, and variation. A series of new graphic works is also shown, created in connection with an upcoming translation of Paradís from The Divine Comedy by Dante, where the spiritual and symbolic world intersects with the artist’s earthly vision.

Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956) lives and works in Reykjavík. He studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. His works have been exhibited at the Reykjavík Art Museum, Hafnarborg, Nordatlantens Brygge in Copenhagen, and the Pori Art Museum in Finland, among others. Eggert received the Carnegie Art Award in 2006 (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 works with the i8 Gallery in Reykjavík, where he has exhibited frequently, and several books dedicated to his work have been published.

Þröstur Helgason holds a PhD in General Literary Studies from the University of Iceland and has had a long career as a cultural journalist, critic, editor, and scholar. He is currently working on a book about the cultural history of the color blue.

Admission is free – everyone is warmly welcome.