Hrefna Sigurðardóttir

Hrefna Sigurðardóttir (1920 – 2015) was born in Dýrafjörður in the West Fjords, and attended the school at Núpur, where her father was a teacher. She married Kjartan Th. Ingimundarson, who was first mate ona fishing vessel, and later at sea captain. They lived in Patreksfjörður initially, then moved to Reykjavík in 1961.

Hrefna published three volumes of poetry, and held two solo exhibitions at the Gerðuberg Culture Centre in 1993 and 2000. Two works by here were also included in the exhibition Across the Bridge of Optimism at the Reykjavík Art Museum in 2003, which brought together trained and self-taught artists. Hrefna composed music, played the mouth-organ, piano and guitar, and sang with rare sincerity. She appeared in the film comedy Stella í orlofi and took part in various theatrical productions.

Hrefna’s work do not confirm with conventional rules, trends and styles: her forms are free, her visual world profound and powerful. The complex content of her art was produced in a trance-like state: a flower, a bird, a boat, or abstract visions that entail concrete ideas. The organisation of material, colours, forms and line reflect something of Hrefna’s multifaceted personal charms – drawing on her lively imagination and her optimistic perspective on life and existence.

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