Woman and Child

Kristján Davíðsson studied in the USA 1945–1947. His art was influenced on the one hand by American postwar abstract expressionism, and on the other by the Art Informel and Art Brut of postwar Paris. Kristján introduced these trends to Icelanders, contributing to challenging the orthodoxy of geometrical abstraction which was dominant in the mid-1950s. His works do not depict nature in a representational manner: his intention is to experience the oneness of man and nature entailed by unconscious brushstrokes on the canvas. His art expresses a desire to fully experience physical and spiritual unification with nature. In that sense, Kristján’s art is indissolubly bound up with nature.