Friday, March 10, 2006


"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!!" this was written by Gustav Vigeland in his notebook on February 04 1896.


Vigeland park is situated in the district of Oslo called Frogner. This large park is a home for 227 granite and bronze sculptures by Norway's celebrated sculptor Gusrav Vigeland. Gusrav Vigeland was born on 11th of April 1869 in Mandal, a small coastal town of Southern Norway. His father was a master carpenter in Norway.


This park is built on 30 hectare (75acre) land.


Gusrav Vigeland studied in Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris and Italy. He got a scholarship to study gothic art in France for one year.


The most photographed sculpture in the park.It is artistically sculptured, but nobody knows why this little boy is crying.

He always carried a pen and paper to write down the time and place, while working

He has used his talent to bring out the emotions from child birth to death.

"These beautiful sculptures have to be admired with the artistic eyes. The Hindu temple sculptures are similar" says Sellathurai Selvakumaran, who is a Sri Lankan born - now residing in Norway.

"Wheel of Life" connects men , women and children through happiness, sadness, disappointment, anger and fear. It shows the depth of human life.

Most of the sculptures were created in between 1926-1942.

The focus point of this park is the monolith, which stand in the middle of the park. He started to create the monolith in 1929 and completed in 1943.The monolith represents all of humanity. It is 18 meter (60 foot) height. 121 colossal human figures carved in one piece of stone. It depicts the cycle of life

Mother's love is beautifully carved in granite

This park is one of the main tourist attractions in Norway

His emotions were freely expressed through these scuptures

At the age of fifteen, he learned wood carving

Gustav Vigeland has written on an undated drawing that "He who is once bitten by love's snake, never heal"

When Gustav Vigeland's father died, he had to take care of the rest of the family

This park is full of snow during winter.More tourists visit the place during summer

He connects the human life through emotions

Women have been depicted in many different ways

The Vigeland Scupture Park-"There's no equal in the whole world"