All the apps agreed: the weather in Oslo was going to be resplendent today. So we walked to Frogner Park, the biggest tourist draw in all of Norway due to the 212 Gustav Vigeland sculptures that stand as towering monuments throughout the 110 acres of lake, lawn, and oak-lined pathways. Working with granite and bronze, Vigeland liked to depict the human struggle—living and loving and fighting death—as if it were a wrestling match. His figures are always busy, and when they pair off, it’s intense. Bodies relaxed appear to be dead. All his people are sculpted in strenuous enormity, and although they are placed in the sylvan surroundings of the park, I got this weird crypto-fascist will-to-power vibe that wasn’t lessened by the terraced avenues approaching Vigeland’s “Monolith” and “Circle of life”. The Oslo aesthetic that I treasured today was in the contrast between the striving exertions of Vigeland’s sculpture and the Sunday afternoon sprawl of the lounging crowds visiting the park.
