MOUNT HERDUBREID PAINTED BY SVEINN THÓRARINSSON

 

SVEINN THÓRARINSSON (1899 -1977) 

Herðubreið  / Mount Herdubreid (1,682 m - 5518ft) 

Iceland

 In Herðubreið, oil on canvas, 1926

Biography of the painter  
Sveinn Thórarinsson (in our alphabet Thorarinsson) and his wife Karen Agnete thórarinsson were both painters. Sveinn's parents were farmers in Kílakot (Iceland) but the family has maintained a strong tradition of artistic activities for several generations. Born in this very small and sparsely populated island that is Iceland, Sveinn Thórarinsson grew up, without knowing it, in a family that had a strong artistic reputation among its neighbors! His parents therefore brought him up naturally as an artist and in particular by making him play the violin like his father. Child, very puny, unable to compete with other adolescents in the work in the fields, he was sent to study music in the city. The music could therefore have occupied his mind completely, but it was not.
After successful studies in Reykjavik, he returned home and decided to paint while continuing to make music. He was suddently so active as a painter that people came to see his works from all the farms around! As his paintings were popular, he quickly became a renowned painter in Iceland, which was hardly surprising given the family he came from. For a long time he continued to play the violin and paint, at the same time, including frescoes in chapels drowned in snow. For several years, he painted and sold his works regularly, thus amassing a certain amount of money, which allowed him to face the wide world.
In the fall of 1925, he left to study at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Then his career as a painter, carried out mainly within his island, will carry him peacefully until his death.
Since then his price in the auction rooms has continued to rise and he appears as one of the great Icelandic painters of the twentieth century painting in a style which is very much inspired by that of Cezanne and the French impressions, which he knew mainly from books ...

 
The mountain
Herðubreið (1,682 m - 5,518 ft) meaning broad-shouldered is a tuya in northern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. It is situated in the Highlands of Iceland at the east side of the Ódáðahraun desert and close to Askja volcano. The desert is a large lava field originating from eruptions of Trölladyngja and other shield volcanoes in the area. Herðubreið was formed beneath the icesheet that covered Iceland during the last glacial period. The mountain is often referred to as "The Queen of Icelandic Mountains" by Icelanders due to its beautiful shape. Near the mountain lies an oasis called Herðubreiðarlindir with a campground and hiking trails. In former times, outcasts who had been excluded from Icelandic society because of crimes they had committed lived at the oasis. One such outlaw was Fjalla-Eyvindur, who lived there during the winter of 1774–1775. In 2019 Herðubreið became a part of Vatnajökull National Park.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT HERDUBREID BY STEFAN JONSSON OF MÖORUDALUR

STEFAN JONSSON OF MÖORUDALUR (1908-1994)

Herðubreið  / Mount Herdubreid (1,682 m - 5518ft) 

Iceland

In  Sheep of Mount Herdubreid,  oil on canvas, 1982, Private owner  

The mountain 
Herðubreið  (1,682 m - 5518ft) meaning  broad-shouldered in icelandic is a tuya in north-east Iceland. It is situated in the Highlands of Iceland at the east side of the Ódáðahraun desert and close to Askja volcano. The desert is a large lava field originating from eruptions of Trölladyngja and other shield volcanoes in the area. Herðubreið was formed beneath the icesheet that covered Iceland during the last glacial period.
Due to the mountain's steep and unstable sides, the first ascent was in 1908 despite centuries of knowledge of its existence.
Near the mountain lies an oasis called Herðubreiðarlindir with a campground and hiking trails. In former times, outcasts who had been excluded from Icelandic society because of crimes they had committed lived at the oasis. One such outlaw was Fjalla-Eyvindur, who lived there during the winter of 1774–1775. In 2019 Herðubreið became a part of Vatnajökull National Park.

The painter 

Stefán Vilhjálmur Jónsson,  said of Möðrudalur (1908- 1994)  lived at Möðrudalur furthest and taught himself to the town. Stephen was a known naïveist and his pictures ran out on shows. He began painting at an old age after moving to town from the middle of the 20th century.

He was self-reliant without observing Astrid Jónsson, a painter who came to Möðrudalur several times to paint.

Herðubreið and horses were his hallmarks, as he himself told an interview in Morgunblaðið July 17, 1993: "It will always bring some pictures of Herðubreið to me, she is so much a beautiful mountain. That's what makes me happy. Frosti and Mökkur and Hardy Red. They're in trouble my favorite horse pictures. "

He was also a photographer and most of his photos were labeled with the artist's name Stórval.

Stephen was a colorful townspeople and said about himself: "Then I rode a lot about the town and often had a harmonica and painted me too. I went east sometimes but not in recent times. When one has become a multifunctional in pictures, it is interesting to leave them. But one should go out too and talk to his acquaintances, and I want to go to the bank so often. I see so much jealousy. Just put up the hat like that and bump me into town. "

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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau