Settlement - an Excellent Photography Exhibition by Pétur Thomsen Photographer

In this travel-blog I want to show you a photography exhibition by a brilliant photographic artist Pétur Thomsen.

Pétur has held numerous photographic exhibitions in Iceland, and he mainly focuses on the disruption of the landscape of Iceland.

In the ongoing series Settlement (landnám) Pétur investigates how we humans utilize nature and the effects this utilization has on our delicate nature.

Top photo: Pétur Thomsen and I in front of his biggest artwork Birch

Pétur uses flash in the darkness for a special effect

I visited his exhibition Settlement - Lava, which was shot over a period of 3 years in South Iceland, where Pétur lives.

In this series, Pétur photographs in darkness and uses flash to partially light up the darkness and create a special effect.

As we live so far up north here in Iceland, then the winters are dark, which gives him ample time to take photos of this sort.

Pétur mainly photographs land use in mines (quarries), the farmers' use of land, and tree plantation. He photographs lava, roads, forests, creeks, and cultivated land in the darkness.

Pétur Thomsen in front of his artwork lava in a quarry

Some of Pétur's photos look like beautiful paintings, like the one in the photo above.

It shows us a quarry in Grímsnes in South Iceland in total darkness, only lit up by the flash. I have also taken photos in that quarry in daylight. In this area, you will find very colourful lava.

The biggest artwork in this series covers almost the entire wall. It depicts birch trees in winter, spring, summer, and autumn time.

It is such a beautiful work of art, but Pétur, who comes from a family of photographers, discovered in his teens that photography could be art and he could become an artist by studying photography.

Birch trees in winter, spring, summer and autumn

Pétur told us, when he guided us through the exhibition, that he took around 4,000 photos of birch trees while working on this massive artwork. He then used 55 of these photos to create this beautiful work of art.

This artwork, Birki - Birch, the biggest piece of them all, has been made immortal, so the speak, as in the winter of 2024 it was the backdrop for the formation of a new government in Iceland.

I also found it fitting to have it as a backdrop for the artist and myself. We are first cousins, but when you see the size difference you wouldn't think that we were related ;)

With Pétur Thomsen in front of his biggest artwork Birki - Birch

Pétur studied Art history and archeaology at Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, art photography at École supérieure des métiers artistiques in Arles, and graduated in 2004 with a master's degree in fine arts (MFA) from École Nationale Supérieur de la Photographie.

Pétur Thomsen has received numerous recognitions and awards for his photographs.

Pétur's main focus is on the disruption of nature and I have visited his exhibitions at the National Museum of Iceland, the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, and the latest one (2025) in Hafnarborg in Hafnarfjörður town, in the Great-Reykjavík area.

Pétur Thomsen with his daughter Kristbjörg Harpa, who is named after our grandmother

Pétur has also held several solo exhibitions around the world, in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, Spain, Russia, Poland, Tokyo, and Syria.

He has also taken part in group exhibitions around the world, and adding to the list of countries above, then he has taken part in exhibitions in the Barbican Centre in London, the USA, Greenland, Denmark, Belgium, Latvia, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Peru, South Korea, and even as far as in China.

In the photo below Pétur shows us 3 of his photographs, which he shot in the darkness, by Svartsengi on the Reykjanesskagi peninsula.

Here we see where the new lava meets age-old lava. The new lava is from the Reykjanesskagi peninsula volcanic eruptions which started in March 2021.

The photography exhibition Settlement Lava

Pétur got international acknowledgement for the series of photographs he took of the construction of the Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric power plant, built to harness the power of the massive glacial river Jökulsá á Brú, also called Jökla, East Iceland's longest river.

The construction of this power plant, and thus the disruption of the landscape and the flow of the forceful glacial river, was very controversial and protests were held to stop this project that would irreversibly transform the nature of Iceland.

And, Pétur Thomsen took his cameras, spent quite some time at Kárahnjúkar, and photographed the massive disruption of the landscape.

Hverfandi waterfall at Kárahnjúkar can be seen from late August and September

He called this series of photographs Imported landscape (Aðflutt landslag), and that exhibition was selected as the exhibition of the year 2010. You can see his photos here.

I visited Kárahnjúkar on several occasions after the landscape was disrupted, as it were, and took the video above, plus a myriad of photos.

The man-made waterfall Hverfandi in my video above appears when there is an overflow in the Hálslón Reservoir at Kárahnjúkar.

Little did we know back then that by changing the landscape in such a drastic way, a beautiful basalt column gorge would appear. That gorge has become one of the main attractions in East Iceland now, the extraordinary Stuðlagil canyon.

Amazing basalt columns appeared in Stuðlagil canyon

Through the canyon, a turquoise-coloured river runs with amazing basalt columns on each side, ever so majestic. I always feel like I entered a world of fairytales when I visit this canyon.

For sure the landscape was greatly disrupted here, but to look on the bright side something good came from this disruption of the landscape. Not to mention the electricity production.

You can visit both Stuðlagil canyon and Kárahnjúkur hydropower plant on your visit to East Iceland.

Just take into account that when there is an overflow in Hálslón by the end of the summer, and the Hverfandi waterfall appears, the water levels of Stuðlagil canyon change, and the color of the river changes from turquoise to the grey and brown colours of glacial rivers. 

Stuðlagil canyon in East Iceland

Pétur lives in the eco-village Sólheimar in Grímsnes in South Iceland, the first sustainable community in Iceland, where some 100 people live and work.

Do pay Sólheimar a visit when you are driving on the Golden Circle, as here you will find a good organic café called Græna kannan, and the Verslun Vala store where you can buy beautiful artwork made at Sólheimar.

You can also buy organic produce from Sólheimar at the eco-village. Sólheimar is for sure a hidden gem in South Iceland, which I visit often.

At Sólheimar eco-village - the Sólheimakirkja church is in the background

I have both worked at Sólheimar, and decades later I got married in the church at Sólheimar as my uncle Birgir Thomsen, who is Pétur's father, was a minister in this lovely little village.

You might want to consider staying at Sólheimar. I have stayed in this eco-village on several occasions and have always loved my stay.

Pétur and I are first cousins as I mentioned earlier, his father, and my mother are siblings.

Pétur is an artist-photographer while I am only an amateur photographer, who loves photographing Icelandic nature, as those of you who read my travel-blogs about Iceland know.

At Sólheimar with Pétur Thomsen and his son Sigurður Thomsen

Our grandfather, Jens Pétur Friðriksson Thomsen was a professional photographer, and we seem to have inherited his passion for photography.

Or maybe it was just growing up around photography and wandering around and being in the way in our grandparents' photography studio that ignited our passion for photography ;)

Jens Pétur Friðriksson Thomsen

Pétur Thomsen photographer - my grandfather

Jens Pétur Friðriksson Thomsen (1910-1988), was born in Reykjavík, and studied radiotelegraphy in his teens. In his twenties, he went to work in Copenhagen, Denmark.

His mother Elín was half-Danish, and the Danish family name Thomsen came to Iceland with his Danish grandfather Jens Peter Thomsen (1849-1902).

My mother is Thomsen, but the family name Thomsen only lives through her brother's descendants now.

In 1935, I believe, Pétur went to Germany to study photography and filmmaking at UFA in Berlin.

This photo was taken of my grandfather ca 1938 when he was in either Denmark or Germany

When WW2 started the Germans drafted him as a photographer for the High Command of the German Army and sent him on a mission to take photos of machinery etc, sometimes up close, and at times from an airplane.

He was even sent to the forefront to take photos, like in the former USSR, and experienced many trials and tribulations during this awful world war.

In the fall of 1943, Pétur was sent to Iceland on a special mission in a German submarine and came ashore in Finnafjörður fjord in East Iceland.

USA and UK occupation forces were situated in Iceland during WW2. Pétur was sent to London, put in custody for 3 months, and returned to Iceland where he became a double agent.

My grandparents at their photography studio in 1971

After WW2 ended, Pétur Thomsen became a professional photographer and mainly focused on industrial photography.

He opened a photography studio in 1947 in Reykjavík and worked as a photographer until 1975 with his wife Kristbjörg. Their children also worked at the studio when they were teenagers.

My grandmother; Kristbjörg Guðmundsdóttir, was born in a remote valley in the Westfjords of Iceland: Sæból at Ingjaldssandur in the Westfjords of Iceland - my Grandmother's Birthplace.

Pétur took photos for the President's Office while President Ásgeir Ásgeirsson and President Kristján Eldjárn were in office, and is best known for his official photos for the Icelandic state of the civil service.

Birgir and Helga Thomsen, the children of Pétur Thomsen, also worked at the studio

The Swedish King Gustav VI Adolf appointed Pétur Thomsen a Royal Swedish Photographer in Iceland for the King of Sweden during his visit to Iceland in 1958.

The work of my grandfather is an important visual view, so to speak, into the Icelandic society in the 6th and 7th decades of the 20th century. 

We donated most of his films to Ljósamyndasafn Reykjavíkur - the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, and in the possession of the photography museum are almost 300,000 of his photos!

My grandparents at their photography studio in 1963 when Lyndon B. Johnson visited Iceland

I have many films at my home of his private work, and in between them I have found a couple of films from his official work, and I scanned them all recently (2025).

And some of the personal films including photos of myself and my family accidentally went to the Reykjavík Museum of Photography.

In 2010 the Reykjavík Museum of Photography held an exhibition of Pétur's work and the work of his grandson by the same name, Pétur Thomsen.

The exhibition was called Thomsen & Thomsen and was held on the occasion of Pétur's hundredth anniversary (19th of June 1910 - 17th of June 1988). 

My grandmother working at the photographic studio in 1959

That exhibition was a conversation between two areas (60 years apart), where the younger Pétur Thomsen, talked to his grandfather Pétur Thomsen through his photos.

From the age of 15 Pétur (1973) knew that he wanted to become a photographer, but his grandfather told him to choose another profession.

His father and grandmother supported him though and taught him the first steps in photography (and probably a whole deal more than the first steps). Pétur then found his calling in photographic art.

You can see a selection of the photographic collection of Pétur Thomsen (1910) at Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur - the Photography Museum of Reykjavík here.

And a selection of the photographic collection of Pétur Thomsen (1973) at the Photography Museum of Reykjavík here. 

With my grandfather, Pétur Thomsen, and his cat Tómasína, in 1968

Pétur Thomsen (1973) also holds photography seminars and gives lectures about photography. 

My cousin doesn't connect aesthetically with landscape photography as I do but shows us man vs nature in his photographs.

I will, on the other hand, continue to show you photos of the Icelandic landscape and tell you about Iceland's history, folklore, the Vikings, and turf houses in my travel-blogs about Iceland :) 

Ref.:

Pétur Thomsen bio - contact info for Pétur Thomsen

Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur 

Svipmynd af ljósmyndara

Morgunblaðið - Fullkominn framandleiki landsins page 76