For a city the size of Reykjavík, there’s definitely a lot going on (per capita, of course), and luckily for you, you’re holding (or scrolling through) an exhaustive list of hotspots worth your attention. Our cultural experts keep tabs on the town’s happenings, but not in a pretentious, professional way — they live here, so they are nothing but upfront about what’s a hit or a miss. 2025 was a great year for culture, with multiple new galleries popping up in Reykjavík, museums seriously levelling up, and some institutions going into hibernation. If you’re going to do anything cultural in Reykjavík, start with some of these.
Best Art Museum
National Gallery of Iceland
Fríkirkjuvegur 7
Photo by Art Bicnick
In just over a year, the National Gallery of Iceland (Listasafn Íslands) has gained a completely fresh energy worth celebrating. “Since Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttir took over, she’s really been activating the museum in a way that hasn’t been done for the past years,” one panellist notes. The museum devoted a part of 2025 to video work, with the legendary The Clock, which kept it open for 24 hours on multiple occasions, hosted an exhibition on real and counterfeit art, and closed the year with a beautifully made Steina retrospective.
Runner Up:
Gerðarsafn Art Museum
Hamraborg 4, Kópavogur
“Gerðarsafn has been doing really great shows which are way more based on the younger generation of the contemporary art scene,” one panellist notes. Over the past year, the museum has repeatedly drawn visitors out of the 101 bubble to Kópavogur, producing some of the town’s best group shows and launching a new event series.
Runner Up:
Reykjavík Art Museum
Multiple locations
The panel agrees we’ve never had a bad time at Kjarvalsstaðir, and highlights recent shows at Hafnarhús’s D-Gallery and Ásmundarsafn’s Wonderland series. However, 2025 wasn’t a standout year for the Reykjavík Art Museum. “I don’t think they’ve been pulling their weight this year as much as they could have,” one panellist says. That being said, with three beautiful locations and the capacity to host large retrospectives, it surely remains an institution not to be missed.
Previous Winners:
2025: Reykjavík Art Museum
2024: Reykjavík Art Museum
2023: Gerðarsafn Art Museum
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