“You Have to Teach People How to Die”

Hallgrímur Helgason opened a show of his recent paintings at the Neskirkja church’s community center in the west part of Reykjavik. The title of the show is “You Have to Teach People How to Die”, a sentence his father used a lot in his final days. Hallgrimur’s father, Mr. Helgi Hallgrimsson, passed away in October 2020. All the paintings are about death in one way or another and some of them even show the artist’s dying father in his death bed. Another major work is a series of acrylics on paper titled “Final Breath”, all depicting people in their final moments, mouth gaping and eyes open, turned skywards.