Vigelandsparken: The Naked Statue
Tree lines, statues, huge gates, colorful bloomed roses, and fountains. All the recipes for a nice and enjoyable walk in the park, right! If you ever find yourself in Oslo, Norway like my friend and I, a must-see is Vigelandsparken. We found ourselves invited by wrought iron gates and gigantic tree lines leading toward Gustav Vigeland’s famous works; such as The Angry Boy, Wheel of Life, and much more. It is hard to believe that one artist made the largest sculpture park.
There was so much to see of Vigelandsparken with the tour lasting about two hours of beautiful and such storytelling art. I mean those statues were no joke, my friends and I found ourselves creating stories about each status like when we’re at a cafe shop people watching outside the window. Don’t judge, people watching is quite mind relaxing. Don’t knock it until you try people! Anyway, after passing through the gates and tree lines, as if that wasn’t enough, we-we’re greeted by a bridge lined with life-size statues that included the famous The Angry Boy. I was told that the people (especially couples) like to imitate these statuses for photos. They had great reasons to as the lifelike statues appeared to depict life events; a woman holding her hair out (named by my friends and me “The Beyoncé”), a man juggling for toddlers, and a couple holding one another in a sweet loving embrace. Hearing about this fun activity, I wasted no time to choose a statue that I can clumsily hold myself in as long as I can for some pictures.
Following taking many photos replicating these statues, we walked into bloomed red and white roses decorating the park’s path to a large fountain held by five men statues surrounded by smaller trees that held various men, women, children entwined within them. Each tree held different characters display different emotions in life. As I circled around the fountain to look at each tree to see what character or characters held within them, I understood that Vigeland was trying to tell us what he believed the Fountain of Youth would look like if found here in this park. I can go on and on about all the statues, describing what I’ve seen, understood, and learned from this experience, but it does no justice to this place. So here are some photos that best captured the beauty I’ve seen.
I encourage you to make a stop in Oslo, Norway it has a lot to offer such as this park. But even more important, seize the day and explore local unknown parks. Nature-bathing is calming as sinking yourself in a hot bath.
