Reykjavík Art Museum – Hafnarhús

Erró is the reason most people come. The Icelandic painter has worked prolifically for decades and was still painting in his nineties, yet his work is not widely circulated — here it fills room after room. Around it the galleries carry contemporary Icelandic art, three-dimensional work included, in exhibitions that change.

The building does as much work as the hanging. The lighting, the angles and the way one space opens into the next are handled with care, and the architecture holds up even when a particular show does not. Sculpture stands outside as well, on the harbour side, so walk round the building before you go in.

• Three buildings, one museum — Hafnarhús is one of three sites; the rest of the collection sits in other parts of the city.
• Allow an hour or two — that is what the galleries here take at an unhurried pace.
• Check what is on — beyond the Erró rooms the exhibitions change, so a show you read about may be gone; the programme is on artmuseum.is.
• Toilets on site, and the museum is set up for children.
• Look outside too — sculpture stands on the harbour side of the building.

Hafnarhús stands on the harbour side of central Reykjavík. Arriving by car means paid parking, either in a car park or on the street; accessible bays are marked. The entrance is at street level. The museum's other two sites are elsewhere in the city, close enough to walk between.

Best: Thursday, the one day the museum stays open into the evening.

Avoid: late afternoon on any other day, when the doors close at 17:00 and there is no time left for a second site.

Nothing here depends on daylight — the galleries are lit for the art — so the only thing the clock changes is how much you get through.