MUGGUR (1891-1924)
Snæfell or Snæfellsjökull (1,446 m - 4,744 ft)
Iceland
In Snæfellsjökull, 1922, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Iceland
The mountain
Snæfell or Snæfellsjökull (1,446 m - 4,744 ft) (meaning snow-fell glacier) is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name. It is situated on the most western part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of Reykjavík over Faxa Bay, at a distance of 120 km.
The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull. The mountain is included in the Snæfellsjökull National Park (Icelandic: Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull).
In August 2012 the summit was ice-free for the first time in recorded history.
The painter
Muggur whose the real name is Guрmundur Petursson Thorsteinsson, was an Icelandic painter, graphic artist, author and film actor. His younger brothers were all professional football players.
His father, Pétur (1845-1929) was one of the richest men in Iceland. When he was twelve, the family moved to Copenhagen, but they travelled continuously between there and Iceland.
He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1911 to 1915, but also took study trips to Germany and Italy. In 1915, he made a visit to the United States, where his works had recently been exhibited;
In addition to his paintings, he wrote and illustrated a children's book, The Story of Dimmalimm, about a young girl and an enchanted swan. He created numerous drawings inspired by the Eddas as well and created Iceland's first unique deck of playing cards.
He was also a talented amateur actor and had a major role in one of Iceland's first films, Sons of the Soil (Saga Borgarжttarinnar), based on a novel by Gunnar Gunnarsson.
A brief marriage that ended in divorce led him to drink heavily. In 1923, already in deteriorating health, he was kicked in the back by a horse. After a lengthy stay at a spa in France, he returned to the family estate in Denmark and died of a chest ailment (possibly tuberculosis), aged only thirty-two. Most of his works are in the National Gallery of Iceland.
_______________________________
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
