Street art in Reykjavík, Iceland

Street art in Reykjavik is a recently new addition to the city, developing in the 1990s. Across the city buildings, walls and alleyways are brightened with amazing works of art. From Dracula to whales, the city has murals and paintings to suit every taste.

City life is not something I can usually get enthused by, but Reykjavík doesn’t feel like a normal city. It is small and compact, not too busy and from nearly every street corner you can see the sea. Whilst exploring this exposed city street art became a focus of photography. Down each alleyway, on the side of buildings and even on the pavements there is the artwork. There is a complete range of styles from cartoon-style characters to photorealistic work. Despite the long dark winters the colours from these works of art brighten up even the greyest of days.

Story of Street Art in Reykjavík

Like any other city with street art, it is something that has evolved and developed over time. Reykjavík was a late starter with the first murals appearing in the 1990s. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, most of the street artworks in Reykjavik were common tagging and building graffiti that can be seen on underpasses and bridge supports around the world.  This style started to appear in the Miklabraut Road underpass leading to Klambratún Park and then spread across the city.
In 2015 and 2016 a project between Urban Nation and Icelandic Airwaves Festival developed a mural project across the city called Wall Poetry. The Icelandic Airwaves Festival is a large festival held in the city each November with loads of bands and thousands of visitors from around the world descending on the city. Urban Nation from Berlin helped connect artists and musicians. The international artists designed whole building sides of wall art inspired by the music which covers many of the buildings in the main streets of the city.

Laugavegur Street, Grettisgata Street and Skólavörðustígur Street Art

Laugavegur Street, Grettisgata Street and Skólavörðustígur are the three main streets in the busy tourist centre of Reykjavík and it is easy to find the murals. Laugavegur Street has most of the larger Wall Poetry pieces. Some murals are so obvious that you really can’t miss them but others may take walking the street in different directions to see the work. You will find graffiti down the back alleys, and on garden fences and many of the walls have interesting decorative additions. There is even a piece of rainbow art painted onto the pavement on a street corner in Skólavörðustígur. Explore the main shopping streets and the smaller streets that link Laugavegur, Grettisgata and Skólavörðustígur and you will find some amazing street art.
Many of the works of art are based in nature with eagles, wolves and birds being found dotted around the city. Like the wall art in Chernobyl the local wildlife is shared with the city.
Some of the shops have commissioned artists to decorate the exterior and interior walls. The bakery, Braud & Co and MB Taqueria amongst others have unique outside appearances and some of the bars have been decorated inside with impressive wall art. The Punk Museum also has an interesting collection of Icelandic artwork.

Reykjavík Docks

The area around the docks in Reykjavík has a harsher feel to the street art. Here the work is more photorealistic with stunning work by Guido Van Helten amongst others. These are often monochrome or involve muted earthy colours and tell more of a story than the whimsical work in the centre of the city. The scale of these pieces is also much larger, often covering the sides of warehouses and office buildings rather than the smaller shop fronts and buildings found in the centre of the city.

SEE A MAP OF ALL THE ARTWORK IN REYKJAVÍK HERE

Street Art Around Iceland

Whilst wandering around Iceland we came across other pieces of art. In Heimaey on the Westman Islands and Akureyri in the north, there were large pieces of wall art by Guido Van Helten.

In Seyðisfjörður in the East Fjords the painted rainbow pavement with the blue church in the background brightens up the town.

Hellissandur on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is also adorned with stunning street art. Look out for the huge puffin and other wildlife that is around the village.

Planning a road trip to Iceland? Read all my Iceland Travel Guides