In this hall you can see the model for the fountain in Vigeland Park, the plaster originals of the four lizard groups that were carved in granite for the corners of the bridge in the park, several sculptures commissioned for other public parks, as well as three portrait monuments. What all the works in this hall have in common is that they are found in various locations around the country. Several of the sculptures stand out from Vigeland’s more familiar themes of human relationships – here we encounter works that carry a touch of the fairy-tale and the imaginative.

Gustav Vigeland, Girl on a Reindeer, 1920. Plaster.

Vigeland always used live models when creating his sculptures, and this also applied when he modelled animals. In connection with this work, he acquired two reindeer from Northern Norway. The animals roamed for several months in the garden of his studio at Hammersborg, to the great delight of the neighbourhood children. Vigeland wanted to keep them long enough to know them by heart, “so that I can later model reindeer as much as I wish without having them before me.” The sculpture exists in bronze in the park at Fritzøehus in Larvik.

Gustav Vigeland, Man in a Cloak Fighting a Lizard, 1930. Plaster.

This is the plaster original of one of four groups depicting humans and lizards. In Vigeland Park, they are carved in granite and placed on tall columns at each corner of the bridge.

The lizard motif first appeared in Vigeland’s art in the late 1890s, in connection with his work on Nidaros Cathedral. Inspired by the medieval world of imagery, he modelled lizards and dragons in combat with humans for the first time, among them one of the gargoyles for the cathedral’s main tower.

Vigeland also had an interest in Asian art and its use of dragon motifs. The symbolic content of these sculptures can therefore be interpreted in several ways, both as symbols of fertility and as expressions of life’s destructive forces.

Gustav Vigeland, Peder Claussøn Friis, 1937. Gips.

Peder Claussøn Friis (1545–1614) was parish priest in Sør-Audnedal, Vigeland’s home parish, during the Reformation. According to legend, he cleansed the church of saintly images and threw them into the Audnedal River. The sculpture was erected in bronze near the church in Sør-Audnedal in 1938 as a gift from the artist.

Gustav Vigeland, Fountain Model, 1905–06. Plaster.

The fountain model in plastiline was exhibited at the Museum of Decorative Arts in 1906, where it attracted great attention both nationally and internationally. As many as 30,000 people visited the exhibition – about one sixth of Kristiania’s population at the time. In 1907, the city commissioned Vigeland’s fountain for Eidsvolls plass in front of the Parliament. Vigeland, however, was dissatisfied with the proposed location, and in 1915 it was suggested that the fountain be erected at Abelhaugen in the Palace Park – and in the early 1920s in front of Vigeland’s new studio at Frogner. In 1924 it was finally decided that the fountain would be placed at Frognerjordene, where it stands today as part of Vigeland Park.

Gustav Vigeland, Gate with Genii, 1938. Wrought iron.

Vigeland originally planned eleven gates around Vigeland Park, but only the main gate was realised. The Gate with Genii was completed but never installed and was intended as a terminating point of the main axis.

The two gate wings form a radiating motif, in which small children, so-called genii, follow the expansive force of the sun’s rays. In art history, such “genii” symbolise creativity and creative energy. Vigeland himself used the symbol and the term for the children in the Tree Groups surrounding the fountain, and similar figures also appear in the Abel Monument.

Gustav Vigeland, Snorri Sturluson, 1938. Plaster.

The Norwegian Snorri Committee had worked for years to raise funds for a monument to Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241), intended as a gift to Iceland from the Norwegian people. In 1928, Vigeland was invited to carry out the work, but declined at the time. Ten years later, he received a new request, and again intended to refuse. Before he could reply, however, he received a letter from Jónas Jónsson in Reykjavík, who wrote: “On behalf of Iceland, I would like to say that we Icelanders wish that you, and no one else, undertake this great task.” These words proved decisive. The same day Vigeland received the letter, he made a sketch that was unanimously approved by the Snorri Committee.

Snorri, dressed in medieval robes and standing frontally with a book under one arm, was begun in full scale in September and completed two months later.

The sculpture was erected in bronze at Reykholt, Iceland, in 1947 (a gift from the Norwegian Snorri Committee), and in Bergen (on the square below St. Mary’s Church) in 1948.

Gustav Vigeland, Egil Skallagrímsson, 1922. Plaster.

Egil Skallagrímsson (c. 910–990) was an Icelandic chieftain, poet, and warrior. According to Egil’s Saga, he raised a níðstang (curse pole) against the Norwegian King Erik Bloodaxe and Queen Gunnhild, who had driven him out of the kingdom. Vigeland began modelling the sculpture in October 1922. The runic inscription on the pole was designed by runologist Magnus Olsen. The horse’s head was modelled after a freshly severed horse’s head that Vigeland had obtained as a model, according to Vigeland’s friend, art historian Hans Dedekam, it was “the most gruesome model he ever had.” The head was later buried in the studio garden.

The monument was erected in bronze in Mandal in 1971, on loan from the City of Oslo.