A man twirls a young girl around and through the air, snapping to an unheard melody. A couple presses their foreheads together, staring so intensely at each other that they appear to be communicating with their eyes alone. An older woman holds her hand to her mouth in shock, reaching back to protect her companion from an unseen horror.
Vigeland Sculpture Park is a collection of moments like these. Featuring over 200 works by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland, each and every piece draws the viewer into a moment in time. Having walked through the intricate wrought iron gate, visitors then proceed across the park under reaching trees towards the Vigeland Park bridge, where they are greeted by the first statues. Visitors may quickly take note of some of Vigeland’s trademarks in viewing these initial pieces: soft, rounded bodies, and artful nudity. Looking closer and proceeding further, viewers may discover some unexpected details: the layering of a young girl’s hair, the wrinkles in the back of a baby’s head, the vein reaching up a man’s leg. These small, nearly unnoticeable details combine with expressions and gestures that are so naturalistic that one can empathize almost immediately with each and every figure.
There are no placards at the Vigeland Sculpture Park. No blurbs to orient a viewer to the moment that they are observing, or what Vigeland intended. Even still, the figures reach out and through the viewer’s memories to form a connection beyond words. In one statue in particular, a group of children huddle together, perhaps discussing some important news, observing some object of interest, or expressing community and solace to each other. In whatever case, a young girl glares outward from the group at a young boy who stands aside with his hands against his belly. Personally, this moment threw me back in time to my childhood, and all of the innocuous offenses and grudges held during a time of innocence and self-centeredness. I could immediately put myself into the young girl’s shoes, and imagine all of the little things that the young boy could have done to earn such a pointed expression. While I reflected on this, I listened to the conversations going on around me in Norwegian, a language I am unfamiliar with myself, and came to a realization: while I did not understand the words, just like I did not know the exact context to the statue I was observing, I was familiar with the intonation of their words like I was familiar with the expression on the little girl’s face and the little boy’s response. This gave me a sense of connection that I will carry with me through the month ahead.
Continuing through the park, visitors finally come upon the monolith. This statue is the epitome of Vigeland Sculpture Park, a tower of human bodies young and old, male and female, reaching up into the sky. If this sculpture isn’t illustrative of the sense of connection that the preceding statues foster, I don’t know what would be.
