A member of the group of artists who associated with the painter Jón Stefánsson, she was inspired by the art of Paul Cézanne and by French Impressionism.

[1][2] Born on 25 January 1888 in Arnanes on the Eyjafjörður in northern Iceland, she was the daughter of the shipbuilder Jón Antonsson and Guðlaug Helga Sveinsdóttir.

[1][2] Together with Júlíana Sveinsdóttir, Kristín Jónsdóttir played a pioneering role in Iceland as a modern female artist.

Her early landscapes often have an Impressionistic look but with time she developed her own style with freer brushstrokes and stronger colour.

[1] Kristín Jónsdóttir first exhibited her work in Stockholm's Nya Konstgalleriet (1916) and at Christian Larsen's gallery in Copenhagen (1917).