Here one can spend hours wandering around and seeing 192 sculptures made by
Gustav Vigeland. Sculptures of entwined lovers, tranquil elderly couples and
downtrodden beggars dot this beautiful park. The park is situated in the middle
of Frognerparken, a leafy, green park, perfect for lazing about on a sunny day.
The Monolith
The park's highest point, a 46ft monolith carved out of a single block of
stone, consists of 121 writhing human figures. At the bottom there are
seemingly inert bodies. Above them figures ascend in a spiral, the movement
halting midway and then rising at a fast pace towards the summit which is
covered by small children.
Around the Monolith
Surrounding the Monolith are 36 groups in granite depicting the cycle of
life. Every sculpture includes at least two figures depicting Man in a variety
of typical human situations and relationships. A man and woman sit facing one
another with a little child between them. Children play, young men and women
dream and embrace. Old age is represented in several groups.
The Fountain
The Fountain is the earliest sculpture unit in the park, made about 1907. In
the center of the basin, six giants hold the large saucer-shaped vessel aloft
and from it a curtain of water spills down around them. The men, representing
different ages, may be interpreted as toiling with the burden of life and the
effort expended in lifting the heavy vessel varies. Water, a universal symbol
of fertility, is used within the fountain complex in a meaningful juxtaposition
with the twenty "tree groups" on the surrounding parapet, the latter
evidently symbolizing the "tree of life."
The Bridge
58 bronze sculptures on granite parapets stand on either side of the Bridge
portraying people of widely differing ages, although there is less emphasis on
old age than others in the park. Many characteristic representations of
children are noticeable. Dominant motifs among the groups are the relationships
between man and woman and between adults and children. In one sculpture you
find a bronze wheel enclosing a man and woman linked together in a rotating
movement.
The Wheel of Life
After finishing the 58 sculptures for the bridge in the early 1930s,
Vigeland completed a small children's circle located at one end of the bridge next
to the small lake. The large bronze "Wheel of Life," is composed of
figures swirling in an eternal circle.