Last updated: 26 October 2026
Olafur Eliasson is the Icelandic-Danish artist behind The weather project, the sun that filled Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2003. Here you will find our take on his work, where to see Olafur Eliasson now, his Lifeworld prints and other things you can buy, and recent auction results.
Our take on Olafur Eliasson
Eliasson works with light, weather, water and colour, usually at a scale that you walk into. The weather project at Tate Modern in 2003 drew more than two million people, according to Tate, and in 2018 his Ice Watch brought chunks of Greenland ice to London.
In 2024 he made Lifeworld for CIRCA’s screens on Piccadilly Lights and Times Square. “Sites like Piccadilly and Times Square are enormously impressive spectacles, with their advertising screens that usually display crisp, sensational imagery,” he said in CIRCA’s announcement. “It’s a thrill; but the environment also determines my actions.”
The four Lifeworld silkscreens sold out at the end of 2024. The easiest Olafur Eliasson object to own now is his Little Sun solar lamp, £35 from Tate.
Olafur Eliasson: the essentials
- Born in Copenhagen in 1967 and based in Berlin, according to CIRCA.
- Runs Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a large team of craftspeople, architects, researchers, technicians and cooks.
- Made The weather project for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in 2003 and The New York City Waterfalls in 2008.
- Started the social business Little Sun in 2012, which makes solar lamps, and co-founded Studio Other Spaces with Sebastian Behmann in 2014.
- Became a UN Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador for climate action in 2019 and won the Praemium Imperiale in 2023.
- Shown by neugerriemschneider in Berlin and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York and Los Angeles. Tate has his work in its collection.
Where to see Olafur Eliasson now
- Now on: Your curious journey, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, 9 July to 15 November 2026. There is no UK show on.
- Olafur Eliasson: Presence, QAGOMA, Brisbane, 6 December 2025 to 12 July 2026.
- Tu inconmensurable expansión de llamaradas, Galería Elvira González, Madrid, 25 February to 25 April 2026.
- His last UK solo show was Olafur Eliasson: In real life at Tate Modern, which closed on 5 January 2020.
Recent Olafur Eliasson auction results
His auction market is thin in the results we could check. One recent lot:
- Untitled (Iceland Series #12), 2005, unique C-print, 60 x 90 cm (23 5/8 x 35 3/8 in). Hammer price SEK 19,000 against an estimate of SEK 20,000 to 25,000 at Bukowskis, Stockholm, 16 April 2025.
Prices include buyer’s premium. Last checked: 26 October 2026.
Where to buy Olafur Eliasson
His Lifeworld edition has sold out. These are available:
- Little Sun lamp, £35: his solar-powered lamp, 12 cm (4.7 in) across, from the Tate Shop. The smaller Little Sun Diamond is also £35.
- Experience, £69.95: the 488-page Phaidon monograph, listed in stock at Waterstones.
- Lifeworld, 2024: four silkscreens, 42 x 42 cm (16.5 x 16.5 in), £300 plus VAT each from CIRCA, now sold out. See our Lifeworld page.
Olafur Eliasson prints and editions on CoolCuration
Olafur Eliasson FAQs
Can I still buy the Olafur Eliasson Lifeworld prints?
Not from CIRCA. The four silkscreens were sold from October to December 2024 and are sold out.
What is Olafur Eliasson’s most famous work?
The weather project, the artificial sun in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2003, which drew more than two million visitors.
What is Little Sun?
A solar-powered lamp from the social business Eliasson started in 2012. Tate sells it for £35.
Is there an Olafur Eliasson exhibition in London?
Not at the moment. His last UK solo show, In real life at Tate Modern, closed in January 2020.
More from CoolCuration
- Christo: Air at Gagosian review: another artist working with air, space and scale.
- Anish Kapoor Glow: an edition from another sculptor of light and colour.
- Gifts for artists: our edit of presents for people who make things.
- Best affordable art in the UK: where to start collecting without auction prices.
Think we’re missing something, got something wrong, or want to be featured? Contact us.
Main image: Olafur Eliasson, February 2017. Photo: Maximilian Bühn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 26 October 2026.
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