Vigeland Park is what the tourists call Frogner Park in Oslo, Norway, and since we were tourists that’s what we called it too, and that’s where we were heading as the first stop on a cruise excursion we booked when Sky Princess docked in the Norwegian capital in June 2022.
But first, briefly, Oslo. This would be our first visit to Oslo, but not our only visit in 2022, with another one taking place later in the year. We arrived to clouds and some gentle, occasional spitting of rain that was not enough to get us wet but just enough to be mildly annoying for someone who likes to take a lot of photographs. I can’t think who I’m talking about here.
The ship was docked alongside Akershus Fortress, and we had planned to pay it a visit if time allowed at the end of our full day’s trip, but there wasn’t quite enough time to do it justice so perhaps we’ll get around to that next time as we’re sure to return.
As I’ve already explained, the first of three planned highlights of Oslo we had booked was to be Frogner Park. The park was formerly part of a manor house estate but parts were sold off to the municipality and a large section was designated a public park in the early twentieth century. In the centre of that lies what is officially called the Vigeland Installation of sculptures, but as that section of the park is what attracts tourists it’s adopted the name Vigeland Park and that’s what I’ll be referring to it as from now on.
We entered from the eastern side of Vigeland park and were immediately greeted by a statue of the sculptor responsible for much we were about to see. Gustav Vigeland has another claim to fame beyond having a whole park of sculptures, and that is that he designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal. The front of the medal shows Alfred Nobel in profile but the reverse has a symbol of three men in a fraternal pose, and we’d be seeing a lot of that sort of symbolism and artistry in this Oslo park.
We approached The Bridge first. This area – which crosses a stretch of water in the park as you’d expect – contains fifty eight bronze sculptures of people of varying ages expressing varying emotions.
You’ll notice that the sculptures feature naked human forms and these have led to some suggestion that Vigeland had Nazi leanings as, for some reason, Nazis like nude men. To be more precise with that unfounded accusation, it’s the aesthetic of the more natural but well-honed (you know, because of the master race and all that crap) figures rather than abstract modernism, or what Nazis might have called “degenerative art”, as well as the age in which Vigeland lived that has preceded some people adding two and two together and getting it wildly wrong. It’s somewhat of a stretch to say that someone producing anatomically correct art is a Nazi, unless you’re also a proponent of the theory that Da Vinci was a proto-fascist, so we can pretty much discount that suggestion.
Incidentally, if you’re the sort of American Republican who approves of banning books that feature artwork that shows genitalia (there are a lot of you lot about these days) under some ridiculous notion that it’s porn and you’ve got to protect the children (don’t mention the guns, don’t mention the guns) then you’d best close this page right now and not scroll down any further. I’d hate for you be aroused by anything here and faint, adding to the likelihood that hitting your head will kill off a number of the clearly dangerously low quantity of brain cells you presently have.
By far the most famous of the sculptures anywhere in Vigeland Park is the one known as Angry Boy. His imagery popped up on plenty of souvenirs that we saw during both this and our subsequent visit to Oslo later in the year. According to our guide, Angry Boy was modelled after Vigeland had paid a visit to England and seen a child throwing a tantrum; Vigeland liked the energy and associated the sculpture with the English. He’s managed to capture my face perfectly.
In 2021 an attempt was made to steal the sculpture and you can see the mark where a saw was used on the left foot of it.
The oldest part of the sculpture installation at Vigeland Park in terms of its original design was The Fountain. Sadly, it wasn’t operating on the day we visited it but that did mean we could get a better look at the skill of the sculpting.
The Fountain, including the pieces around it, can be easily seen to represent life. Six men struggle to hold up the bowl from which life springs in the centre, while all around it are warped and somewhat disturbing tree sculptures intertwined with people of various ages through their lives representing a bond with nature. All the stages of life and death are further represented in reliefs around the base of the installation.
The final section of the Vigeland Park sculptures was The Monolith.
At seventeen metres high, the Monolith is at the highest point in the park, and it is a true monolith, sculpted from one piece of stone. It comprises one hundred and twenty one figures contorted and clambering up one another to the top. Although not known for certain, it is believed to be a representation of spirituality and a desire to be reborn.
Steps surrounded the Monolith allowing anyone to walk up and approach from any angle. Great for art fans, but less great for people wanting to take photos of the sculpture without members of your tour group in the way, posing for selfie shot after selfie shot then standing still and looking around or checking their phone without a care in the world. Seriously, people, have some consideration for others, just occasionally. Take your photo, by all means, and then bugger off.
On plinths radiating out from the central Monolith were thirty six sculptures in granite. These were of more naked human figures in varying poses. Youth and old age were represented, as was every stage of life in between, and there was a lot of emotion conveyed in the faces and the postures. These sculptures in Vigeland Park were the ones that impressed us the most. The skill of the workers who produced these to Vigeland’s designs is difficult to put over in words so you’ll have to go there and do this yourself: run your hands over the sculptures and you’ll feel the muscles beneath the stone surface. It’s astonishing artwork and the act of doing that will really connect you to the pieces.
So, we absolutely loved Vigeland Park, and while I’ve often mentioned on this site that I don’t really try to do recommendations as we’re all different people and you might not like the same things I do, I will recommend a visit here if you’re visiting Oslo, Norway. Even if you don’t think you like art sculptures you might like to run your hands down the thigh of one just to see if there’s something in it for you. At worst, it’s fresh air and some gentle exercise, so you can’t really go wrong there.
In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll be continuing our tour of some of Oslo’s tourist highlights with a short visit to Holmenkollbakken, a hill for ski jumping used in the 1952 Winter Olympics.