Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway

Travel notes

I know I criticised Norway quite a bit in my previous post, but my husband's conference brought us back 🙂 His four-day software conference finishes in two days, and we fly home on Saturday. We are making the most of the free time. We missed this park last time, so went yesterday. It is unusual but magnificent. Before even reaching the sculptures, you pass through a huge, peaceful, green park towards its higher ground. I want to explain a little about the park and sculptures, because some of them may strike you as rather strange 🙂

Inside Frogner Park, Oslo's largest park, is the sculpture installation by Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland. It is one of the city's most visited places and the park's best-known section, so visitors often call the whole area Vigeland Park. Look for Frogner Park on a map; that is also the tram stop's name. It is effectively an open-air sculpture museum, open around the clock with free admission in the original account. Unlike a formal museum, it feels relaxed: people take photographs and sing. My original text even described climbing on the sculptures and called them park furniture; please treat that as an observation from the archive, not permission to climb on artworks. Vigeland also made the large wrought-iron entrance gates, while the surrounding park had no enclosing wall or fence in my description.

The Monolith is a 17-metre granite column depicting 121 human bodies piled together. My notes said the 180-tonne block was brought here and carved in place. Around it are 36 sculpture groups showing relationships between women and men at different stages of life. The work took 14 years and was completed shortly before Vigeland died. Although usually interpreted as a struggle for life, its shape also struck me as phallic.

Frogner Park offers space for picnics, walks, skating, dog walking and sunbathing; my original post also mentioned feeding ducks. The city had reportedly first considered a cemetery, but unsuitable soil led to plans for a public park and sporting competitions. Opened in 1904, it hosted world skating championships, national athletics and football competitions in its early years. My notes described the Vigeland installation as the world's largest open-air sculpture museum and unique for having all its works by one artist. Its defining feature is that almost all the figures are human and unclothed, without accessories.

Why do the sculptures look like this, and why are they nude?

They depict stages of life—birth, youth, adulthood and old age—and emotions such as joy, sadness, longing, anger and jealousy. There are raised hands of rage, people carrying life's burdens, a grandfather talking to a grandchild, and children riding on their mother's back and playing with her braids. Vigeland designed the architecture and landscaping too, and asked that nothing be added or changed after his death. Sadly, he didn't see the completed park, but his wishes continued to be respected.

The 100-metre bridge near the entrance marks the beginning of the sculpture installation. Along both sides are 58 pieces with life-size single or paired figures, made between 1926 and 1933. This was the first section opened to the public. While other areas have more dramatic imagery, the bridge mainly shows carefree adults and children at play.

At the beginning, some visitors may exclaim, 'They're all naked!' By the end of the bridge, you have become used to the nudity and carry on with more curiosity about the rest.

The Angry Boy

One of the park's most famous works is Sinnataggen, the Angry Boy, near the bridge's left-hand exit. It has become a mascot and, perhaps because of that, a target for protests. My notes recounted red and purple paint being poured over it, its left hand being painted gold and black tape being stuck to its bottom. The most dramatic incident described was its theft in 1992 and recovery two weeks later. Afterwards, the 40-kilogram sculpture was attached more securely to its base.

Who was Gustav Vigeland?

Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943), the son of a Norwegian carpenter, learned woodcarving from his father. After his father's death, he moved to the place where his grandfather lived, Vigeland, later adopting its name as his surname.

He later went to Oslo to learn sculpture. In his twenties, he travelled around Europe, working with Auguste Rodin in Paris and studying classical and Renaissance works in Italy, according to the biography in my original notes. Returning to Oslo in 1888, he decided to become a professional sculptor and completed Hagar and Ishmael.

Vigeland made busts of prominent figures including Henrik Ibsen, Arne Garborg, Knut Hamsun, Edvard Grieg, Aasta Hansteen and Fridtjof Nansen. My account also recorded his winning the 1901 competition to design the Nobel Peace Prize medal, which includes three nude male figures and remains in use.

Under an agreement with Oslo municipality, he moved into his home in 1924 and lived quietly, making sculptures until his death. The museum in his former home was described in my notes as holding 1,600 sculptures, 420 woodcuts, 12,000 drawings and thousands of letters. Vigeland died on 12 March 1943, and his ashes are kept in the museum tower.

The day-and-night situation is striking again. In summer, it only gets dark around midnight or 1 am—if you can call that darkness; it is more like dim light. By about 3 or 4 am, it seems bright again. Homes and hotels have thick, dark curtains. I can hardly imagine winter 🙂

Goodbye for now…

See you in the next post 🙂

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