Nína Tryggvadóttir

Nína Tryggvadóttir (born Jónína Tryggvadóttir; March 16, 1913 – June 18, 1968) was an Icelandic artist. She was one of Iceland's most important abstract expressionist artists and one of very few Icelandic female artists of her generation.

Early life Nína Tryggvadóttir was born on March 16, 1913, in Seyðisfjörður. In 1920 the family moved to Reykjavík. She studied art from Ásgrímur Jónsson, a close relative on her father’s side. From 1933 to 1935 she also attended classes of Finnur Jonsson and Johann Briem.

During her exile from the United States she lived in various places in Europe, Iceland being one of them. Copley joined her in Paris where they lived for a few years together with their daughter Una Dóra Copley, born 1951. During those years Nina kept making and practicing her art, exhibiting in many places and traveling through Europe. They returned to New York City in 1959 where Nína continued to work on her art and exhibiting mostly in Europe. During all her years abroad Nína kept exhibiting in Iceland and was her input very valuable to the art society in Iceland.

Mainly working in painting she also did paper collage, stained glass work, mosaic and more. She frequently based her compositions on nature where Icelandic landscape and the Nordic light played an important role.

Death She died on June 18, 1968, in New York.

In May 2018, the Reykjavík City Council signed a declaration of intent between the city and couple Una Dóra Copley and Scott Jeffries to set up an art museum dedicated to Nína Tryggvadóttir. The couple donated their art collection to the city.

In 2023, her work was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.