The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir. For over 30 years the founders have been passionately committed to collecting artworks by artists who have been seen as outside the cultural mainstream. These are sometimes called naïve or outsider artists but in fact they have a real and direct connection to an original creative spirit; true, unspoiled and free. The museum is unique in Iceland, initially collecting artworks by all major contemporary folk artists and autodidacts in Iceland. Those artworks form the core of the collection, while the museum has also gradually acquired an excellent collection of art by professional contemporary artists, whose works are in line with the museum’s exhibition and collection policy. It is of importance that all the artworks presented are on an equal footing. The core collection consists today of artworks and sketches by over 300 artists, dating from the mid-19th century to the present.