Iceland’s best-known sculptor, Einar Jónsson (1874–1954), designed the plans for this museum, which was built after he donated his works to the Icelandic people. Some say it is his biggest sculpture. It served as his studio, as a gallery for his works, and even as his home. Often inspired by Icelandic folklore, Jónsson's sculptures depict classical human and mythological figures in wildly imaginative and unorthodox poses. He identified with the romantic symbolists, and his sculptures speak in allegories, personifications, and ciphers. In the 1930s, W. H. Auden mockingly summed up his work as “Time pulling off the boots of Eternity with one hand while keeping the wolf from the door with the other.” Outside is a small park with 26 bronze castings of his work, well worth a look even if the rest of the museum is closed.