“That two bodies press convulsively together, man and woman, he fertilizing her, he giving her a budding life, or he planting a seed, a seed of life in her womb – Oh God. I think this God-given idea is so enormous, so eternal, so endlessly wise – that people should not be allowed to depict it in art!”
– Quote By Gustav Vigeland
One may find this quote inappropriate for a family travel blog, but this really relates to what radical unschooling or radical family lifestyle means. There is no taboo in art, so there should be no taboo in nonconforming to school, religion or any society’s institutions.
So a day spent in Vigeland Sculpture Park may be equivalent to any “normal” art or any lessons day in school. Or more. Kids running around in more than 200 naked sculptures depicting life, of course!
On a more serious tone (the previous tone was made in pun but no way less serious!)…. the Vigeland Park is one of Norway’s most visited attractions and the world’s largets sculpture park made by one artist, Gustav Vigeland, contains no less than 212 bronze and granite sculptures
Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), né Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his productivity. He is most associated with the Vigeland installation (Vigelandsanlegget) in Frogner Park, Oslo. He was also the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize medal.
The park was completed between 1939 and 1949 and all the statues are centred on the Human Condition theme of the park, illustrating relationships between men and women, adults and children.
The park can be divided into 5 main units that are located along the 850-metre-long main axis: The main gate, the bridge with the children’s playground, the fountain, the monolith plateau and the wheel of life. Norway’s most famous boy, the angry boy, is located in the middle of the bridge together with more than 50 bronze sculptures where the artist wanted to display mainly young people and show the relationship between men and women.
The popular Angry Boy sculpture shows a naked little boy crying and about to stamp his foot.
Not shying away from naked sculptures and artistic interpretation of the human bodies and its “activities” , we have explored the Vigeland Sculpture Park three times for different seasons, (two actually – cold and very cold!), and it was always an eye-opener experience, both literally and figuratively!
Vigeland.
Fall season with family is the time to explore Vigeland Park!!!
and on to almost summer in Oslo!!
Have you explored Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway? Did you like it?
