The Circle of Life

I must admit that when I learned we would visit Vigeland Park, I had some slight misgivings. I was born in the South, and was taught that good boys and girls always keep their clothes on. I had heard of this place in Norway where there are hundreds of acres of statues of people—all of them nude—doing all sorts of things.

We just got back from the sprawling statuary park that was the dream of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland, and I must say, I was impressed. The consistent theme of Vigeland is the circle of life. His statues show every type of person—male, female, young, old—doing everything that people can do. Yet all of the statues show people in relationships. There are boys and girls, workers, lovers and warriors, husbands and wives, grandparents and grandchildren, the living and the dead. Some are happy, some are angry. Others are grieving or frightened. Some are protecting a sibling, and others are simply careless. Some are in love, and some have just fallen out. These sculptures show the entire human condition from birth to death, and all show human beings in relationship. Vigeland wanted his subjects nude so that we would not make judgments about their status, wealth, race or nationality based on their clothing. His work is just now becoming known outside of Norway because Vigeland worked like a maniac. He did not go on tours, take on students, or self-promote. He sculpted his whole life long. When the government planned to raze his workshop for an urban renewal project, he made a deal: if they would build him another workshop, he would give all of his sculptures to the city of Oslo. The city agreed, and when the artist died in 1943 they completely rebuilt Frogner Park according to Vigener’s plans and filled it with his statues. The artist even dictated the location of the placement of flowers and the design of the distinctive wrought-iron gates.

The resulting statuary park is not only beautiful with a multitude of spectacular rose gardens aligned on a central axis, the park is also quite moving. The theme of the circle of life is consistent and unmistakable, even in the placement of the statuary. Gustav Vigeland himself was driven, perhaps too busy even to appreciate how dramatic his own work would be in this monumental setting. Yet, if somehow, from some distant shore of time and space, he could look down on the city of Oslo, I think he would be pleased.Read more