In December 1984, two years after Sigurjón Ólafsson passed away, his widow, Birgitta Spur, established a private museum to exhibit her private collection of her late husband’s sculptures.
The couple’s original home and the adjacent artist’s studio were rebuilt and enlarged to create exhibition halls and the various other facilities necessary for a museum. The Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum opened to the public on what would have been Sigurjón Ólafsson’s 80th birthday.
On November 30th 1989, this private museum became officially an independent cultural institution to which Birgitta Spur donated over 80 sculptures, the buildings at Laugarnes, all biographical material of Sigurjón Ólafsson, photos and other research material. This institution was run by a board supported by a committee of 12 individuals. Birgitta Spur was the executive director of the museum.
In 2012, the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum became a division of the The National Gallery of Iceland.
