Endings in Vigeland Park
Since I'm tired of writing so much I imagine you might also be tired of reading, so I'm opting to do more of a visual entry for my last piece on Oslo.
One of my favourite locations that we visited there was Vigeland Park and its associated museum. It is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and home to more than 200 pieces crafted from bronze, granite and wrought iron.
Vigeland's Fountain Tree Groups were by far my favourite pieces. They surrounded the main fountain in the park and were also replicated inside the museum, each statue representing a stage in the life cycle of mankind.
Taken through the most basic story of birth, procreation and death, the sculptures charmed me twice over with their natural motif, attributed in part to the art nouveau movement. The trees can be construed as the "tree of life", a symbol of growth, fertility and the regenerative process.
"Beneath the crown of the trees the life of man, from cradle to grave, unfolds. Our time on earth is at the same time only a part of an eternal cycle with no beginning and no end. After the tree group with the skeleton which is about to decay in nature, follows a tree full of children: From death arises new life".
From death arises new life. I think that is an important concept to maintain. The beginning is the end is the beginning.
Sculpture depicting childhood from Vigeland Museum's Fountain Trees
One of my favourite locations that we visited there was Vigeland Park and its associated museum. It is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and home to more than 200 pieces crafted from bronze, granite and wrought iron.
Vigeland's sculpture depicting a woman's adolescence (despite the fact that it looks like her mouth is oozing blood)
Vigeland's Fountain Tree Groups were by far my favourite pieces. They surrounded the main fountain in the park and were also replicated inside the museum, each statue representing a stage in the life cycle of mankind.
Vigeland's depiction of a joyful union between man and woman
Taken through the most basic story of birth, procreation and death, the sculptures charmed me twice over with their natural motif, attributed in part to the art nouveau movement. The trees can be construed as the "tree of life", a symbol of growth, fertility and the regenerative process.
"The tree may also [...] become an active organism as when binding an unhappy couple together" (Vigeland Museum Leaflet, 2014)
"Beneath the crown of the trees the life of man, from cradle to grave, unfolds. Our time on earth is at the same time only a part of an eternal cycle with no beginning and no end. After the tree group with the skeleton which is about to decay in nature, follows a tree full of children: From death arises new life".
Skeleton intertwined with a tree, signifying the end of the life cycle and of Vigeland's fountain sculptures
From death arises new life. I think that is an important concept to maintain. The beginning is the end is the beginning.
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