Samúel Jónsson's Art Farm is a sculpture garden and small museum in Selárdalur, in the Westfjords of Iceland. Samúel Jónsson was a farmer who spent his last years making concrete sculptures and building at his farm. Lions, human figures and a fountain stand in the yard, and volunteers keep the place open and tell his story. It sits at the end of the road in a large valley, reached on gravel from Bíldudalur.
Samúel Jónsson's Art Farm
Local name: Listasafn Samúels Jónssonar
When the parish refused the altarpiece he had painted for it, Samúel Jónsson built his own church to hang it in.
- Entrance
- No ticket. A donation box stands at the entrance.
- Accessibility
- Limited — remote gravel access; open grassy grounds
- Parking
- Free at the site
- Difficulty
- Easy on site — but a long, rough drive to reach
- Transport
- Self-drive — gravel road to the end of Selárdalur, past Bíldudalur
- Hours
- Open 24 hours, every day.
- Address
- Selárdalur, 466 (Arnarfjörður)
What makes it special
Concrete lions sit in a fountain in a farmyard at the end of a Westfjords valley, and none of it is the work of a trained artist. Samúel Jónsson farmed in Selárdalur and turned to sculpture and painting late in life. He worked in concrete, with whatever he had to hand. The lion fountain copies the one in the Alhambra, which he knew only from a picture. The figures are not all of it: he also put up the buildings that stand among them. The work is bright, naive and out of all proportion to the empty valley around it. That contrast is what people drive out here for.
Good to know
- Volunteers, not staff: the farm is kept by volunteers, who greet visitors and go through Samúel Jónsson's life and work.
- Coffee and cake are sold at the farm.
- Nothing else out here: the farm is the point of the trip, not a stop on the way to somewhere else.
- Families: children are welcome, and the site is small.
Getting there
Visitors come by car. From Bíldudalur it is roughly 15 miles (about 24 km) of gravel road into Selárdalur, and the farm stands at the end of the road in a large valley. The road goes no further, so you leave the way you came in.
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Samúel Jónsson?
A farmer in Selárdalur who took up sculpture and painting in old age. He worked in concrete and kept building at his farm to the end of his life. What stands there now is what he left.Is there anything to see on the way?
The road there passes a museum of sea monsters and folklore. It is directly on the route, not a detour.Is it a good stop with children?
Yes. The site is small, and the volunteers who look after it show visitors round and tell the story.What is there to see at the farm?
Concrete sculptures in the yard, a lion fountain among them, and the buildings Samúel Jónsson raised around his work.