The National Gallery of Iceland received the Icelandic Museum Award 2026
On May 18, International Museum Day, the Icelandic Museum Awards were presented at a ceremony. The Icelandic National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the Association of Icelandic Museums and Museum Professionals (FÍSOS) jointly sponsor the awards, which recognize an Icelandic museum for outstanding work every two years. The President of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, presented the awards at Kjarvalsstaðir, and great joy reigned among museum professionals who had gathered for the event to celebrate the thriving activities of museums in Iceland.
The award this time went to the National Gallery of Iceland for its response to painting forgery, but in the selection committee's review, it says, among other things:
„The exhibition "The Riddle of the Red-Bearded Man and Other Stories of Imitations and Forgeries" is a unique and timely contribution to Icelandic museum work, where academic research, professional responsibility, and imaginative communication come together for the benefit of the public. By displaying forged and authentic works side-by-side, opening up research data, and making a complex subject accessible, the exhibition succeeded in shedding light on a sensitive yet pressing issue in a responsible manner.
[…]
A general knowledge of Icelandic art history is an important countermeasure against forgeries, and in this regard, the National Gallery of Iceland has played its part with ambitious and bold coverage of sensitive aspects of Icelandic art history that have, until now, not received professional and in-depth presentation and discussion. as this one."“
The collections that also received a nomination for the award were City History Museum for projects in the field of inclusion and strong ties to the community, East Iceland Museum for the Kjarval in East Iceland project, The Árni Magnússon Institute for the exhibition World in Words and East Iceland Technical Museum for development and reconstruction.
The selection committee consisted of Birta Guðjónsdóttir, Guðlaug Dröfn Gunnarsdóttir, Hjörtur Þorbjörnsson, and Hörður Geirsson. Alma Sigurðardóttir was the chair of the committee.