Lights, Fog, Big Money: Why Olafur Eliasson Is the Artist Everyone Wants a Selfie With
12.01.2026 - 12:57:43
You walk into a museum – and suddenly you're inside a sun, a rainbow, or a glowing fog. No paintings on the wall. Just you, the light, and your camera. That's the Olafur Eliasson effect – and it's taking over your feed.
If you've ever seen a yellow sun inside a gallery, a circular rainbow on Instagram, or a tunnel of mist where people look like silhouettes from a sci?fi movie, you've probably already met his work online. The twist? These dreamy installations aren't just Art Hype – they're also serious Big Money in the global art market.
So the real question is: is Olafur Eliasson just an ultra-Instagrammable vibe – or a must-know name if you care about culture, climate, and cash? Let's dive in.
The Internet is Obsessed: Olafur Eliasson on TikTok & Co.
Olafur Eliasson makes the kind of art that your phone loves: glowing circles, mirrored tunnels, swirling waterfalls, ice blocks melting in city squares. His works are built for people to walk inside, record, repost – and argue about in the comments.
Fans call it "stepping into another dimension". Haters say, "It's just lights and fog; my kid could do that." But the numbers don't lie: clips of his installations keep racking up views, and his name shows up again and again anytime a museum show goes viral.
Want to see the art in action? Check out the hype here:
Online, people are obsessed with the way he plays with light, color, and weather. Think: artificial suns, indoor rainbows, shimmering reflections. It looks effortless on camera – but behind it is heavy tech, intense engineering, and big production budgets.
Masterpieces & Scandals: What you need to know
Olafur Eliasson isn't new – he's a major name in contemporary art, with huge museum shows and public projects across the world. But some of his works have become true Viral Hits and meme material.
- "The Weather Project" – Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London
His breakout megahit: a giant fake sun glowing through mist in a huge industrial hall, turning visitors into tiny silhouettes. People lay on the floor, took photos of themselves in the mirror ceiling, and basically turned the museum into a chill-out club. This work cemented him as the artist who could make an entire generation feel like they were inside their own dreamscape. - "Your Rainbow Panorama" – ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark
A circular glass walkway on the museum roof in every color of the spectrum. You walk inside and the whole city turns yellow, blue, red, green depending on where you stand. It's a 360° selfie machine and a serious architectural statement at the same time. Every post from this piece screams Must-See and is basically a color filter in real life. - "Ice Watch" – public installations in major cities
Huge blocks of ice harvested from Greenland placed in public squares, left to melt. People touched them, hugged them, filmed them as they slowly disappeared. It looked simple, but the message hit hard: you're literally watching climate change melt away in front of you. Supporters called it powerful and urgent; critics accused it of spectacle. Either way, it got worldwide attention and fierce comment battles.
Beyond these, he's known for mirrored corridors, tunnel-like installations with colored fog, geometric light pieces, and architectural collaborations that blur the line between building and artwork. The scandal, when it comes, is usually about scale and spectacle: is this deep art, or just expensive stage design? That question is part of the buzz.
The Price Tag: What is the art worth?
Here's where it gets interesting: while you're walking through his installations for the perfect video, collectors and institutions are paying top dollar to own his works.
On the secondary market, Eliasson has clearly entered blue-chip territory. Auction results show his large-scale light works, photographic series, and major sculptures achieving high value prices at the big houses. Certain complex installations and iconic pieces have sold for sums that firmly place him in the upper segment of contemporary art – think the kind of numbers that make headlines in art business reports.
Smaller works, editions, and photographs can sometimes be found in more accessible ranges, but the major custom-built pieces – the ones that transform entire rooms – are usually acquired by museums, foundations, or serious private collectors with deep pockets. If you see an Olafur work that takes over a whole space, you can assume the budget behind it is serious.
In other words: if you're scrolling and thinking, "This looks like a cool light filter," someone else is thinking, "This is a long-term cultural asset." That combination of Viral Hit plus Big Money is exactly why Eliasson sits comfortably in the "blue-chip" category today.
Behind the market status is a long build-up. Olafur Eliasson grew up between Iceland and Denmark, which explains his obsession with weather, light, ice, and natural phenomena. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and later set up a huge studio in Berlin – basically a hybrid of lab, architecture office, and workshop, with teams of engineers, makers, and researchers.
Key milestones in his career include major museum exhibitions worldwide, large commissions for public spaces, and collaborations with architects and climate thinkers. Over time, his name has become shorthand for a particular kind of immersive experience: socially conscious, tech-supported, and visually unforgettable.
See it Live: Exhibitions & Dates
If you want the full-body experience, your phone screen won't be enough. The real power of Olafur Eliasson hits when you're standing inside the work – when you feel the heat of the light, breathe the fog, or see your own reflection multiplied around you.
At the moment, public information from museums and galleries points to ongoing and planned exhibitions, but exact schedules can shift fast. Some institutions feature his works in their permanent collections, and his installations are frequently part of group shows on themes like climate, perception, and future cities. However, no clear, universally confirmed specific upcoming dates are available across all sources right now.
No current dates available that can be reliably listed here in detail – but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. Eliasson is constantly present in major institutions, and new projects are announced regularly.
To see what's on near you or what's coming next, check these official hubs:
- Official Olafur Eliasson website – projects, exhibitions, studio insights, and new announcements straight from the source.
- Tanya Bonakdar Gallery – Olafur Eliasson – gallery shows, available works, and curatorial text if you want to go deeper.
Tip for collectors and art tourists: follow these channels plus your nearest major museum on social media. Whenever an Eliasson show opens, the photos hit feeds instantly – and tickets tend to go fast.
The Verdict: Hype or Legit?
Here's the honest take: Olafur Eliasson is both hype and history. His work is absolutely built for the era of TikTok and YouTube: immersive, photogenic, instantly shareable. But it didn't come out of nowhere – he's spent decades shaping how we experience light, space, and climate inside art institutions.
If you're into:
- Perfect content – his installations are guaranteed backdrop material for your stories and reels.
- Big ideas – he tackles climate crisis, perception, and how we relate to nature.
- Art as investment – his name is established, museum-backed, and solidly in the blue-chip league.
…then yes, this is absolutely Must-See territory. The catch? You need to experience at least one of his installations in real life before you decide if it's genius or "just lights". Screens flatten it; the room makes it real.
So next time you spot a glowing sun inside a museum, a rainbow walkway, or a mysterious fog corridor on your feed, don't just scroll past. That's not just a cool filter – that's Olafur Eliasson quietly rewriting what we expect from art, one viral moment at a time.
