Today on Monday Mysteries we’re back in Iceland for a look at the story behind a statue I saw everyday on our visit, called Vatnsberinn, “The Water Carrier”.

There were many pieces of public art scattered around Reykjavik — I’ve already blogged about that metal lobster boat sculpture I saw down by the harbor, for example.

But every day as I walked between our hotel  and the touristy part of downtown Reykjavik I passed by another statue:

Vatnsberinn statue, Photo #1

I was curious about this one, as it is  on a busy corner in a small grassy are. Unlike other statues in the area, it is clearly a somewhat abstract art piece, not just a statue commemorating a particular historical figure. It also just seemed so melancholy, sitting there all on its own. What was the story behind this, I wondered? Who was it by? And why was it here on an urban corner all on its own?

Well, the answer to one of those questions was on a very small plaque next to the statue: the statue was created by Ásmundur Sveinsson, an Icelandic sculptor who died in 1982.  He is now famous for his abstract sculptures, and “The Water Carrier” is actually an early work of his from the 1930s,  which is a little more figurative than some of his later works.

Sveinsson was inspired by the hardship endured historically by the Icelandic people — mainly the women — who had had to haul water up each day from the sea through the city.  So he created Vatnsberinn as a tribute to them.  He actually designed the statue to be placed on the street corner where it now stands, and gave it to the city in 1936 for that purpose.

Vatnsberinn statue, Photo #2

However, people hated it back then. They thought it was ugly and clunky, neither clearly a woman nor any kind of appealing figure to represent in a sculpture. So Vatnsberinn was exiled to other parts of town, first to the Sveinsson’s own sculpture garden, and later to another park in town.

However, over the years, Sveinsson’s artwork in general has come to be appreciated “as one of the manifestations of the Icelandic storytelling tradition, society and nature in the 20th century”, according to this article I found from 2011. His house and studio on the edge of Reykjavik have been turned into an art museum that celebrates his work, and is considered one of the prime stop for tourists if you take a tour of the city (something that I didn’t have time for while we were there).

At some point over the last decade, a city councilor realized that they really should do right by the artwork Sveinsson had made for the city all those years ago.  So it was with great fanfare that three years ago today, on August 18, 2011, the Vatnsberinn statue was finally moved into the place Sveinsson had designated for it all those years ago.  There it sits today, on the busy corner of Bankastraeti and Laekjargataall, all alone and marked by a single plaque —  just as the artist originally intended it to be.

Vatnsberinn statue, Photo #3

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BTW, I’m not sure how different the corner looks today from how it looked in 1936.  One thing that could be the same, though, is the building behind the statue. It’s a restaurant that serves local specialties, which it has done  for many years, according to the desk clerk at our hotel. It’s the place that his family would always go to for special meals out on holidays, birthdays, etc. FWIW, it’s also the place where Chris and had the tasting plate I mentioned the other day, the one with the puffin, the seaweed, and the dried cod.