In this hall you can see the plaster model of the Monolith, as well as the plaster models for 18 of the 36 granite groups on the Monolith Plateau in Vigeland Park. The plaster models are full scale. A photo series from 1926–1927 also documents the journey of the 260-ton stone that later became the Monolith, from the quarry at Iddefjorden to the Vigeland installation in Frogner Park.

Gustav Vigeland, The Monolith Model, 1924–25. Plaster.
3 sections, each approximately 4.5 m.

The Monolith is considered the main sculpture in Vigeland Park. The sculpture is carved from a single block of stone – hence the name Monolith (from mono, meaning “one,” and lithos, meaning “stone”). The idea for a column or obelisk can already be found in Vigeland’s sketchbooks from April 1919. The final version was modelled full-scale in clay, here at the museum, over a period of ten months between 1924 and 1925. The column stands 17 metres tall and consists of 121 figures. The modelling was an enormous task, which Vigeland himself described as so demanding that “my hair was dark when I started, and grey when I finished.”

After the Monolith had been cast in plaster, it was moved from the studio and placed next to the erected stone in the park. Using an adjustable measuring device, the stone carvers transferred about one million reference points from the plaster model to the stone, chiselling each one by hand – an extremely time-consuming process. The work was mainly carried out by the three craftsmen Nils Jönsson, Nils Kjær, and Ivar Broe, and it took 13 years to complete.

Vigeland did not wish to comment on the “meaning” of the Monolith. However, it is natural to draw a connection between this sculpture and the relief Resurrection from 1900 in Gallery I, as Vigeland himself referred to it. He also stated:
“The stone groups depict life; the column, the world of imagination. The stone groups can therefore be understood by everyone; the column may be interpreted by each person in their own way.”

Gustav Vigeland, Models for the Granite Groups, 1915–36. Plaster.

In this hall you can see the plaster models for 18 of the 36 granite groups that surround the Monolith in Vigeland Park.

The granite groups mark a new phase in Vigeland’s art. The forms become simplified and fuller, the details are subordinated to the whole, and a monumental expression is sought. The individual figure disappears in favour of groups – depicting universal human relationships.

Model of Vigeland’s Studio/Museum with Sculpture Park, c. 1922.

When the City of Kristiania decided in 1919 to build a studio that would later serve as a museum for Vigeland at Frogner, the artist wanted to place his ever-expanding fountain project, with its final major addition, the Monolith, in the area between the museum and Nobels gate. After many years and several debates, however, the fields of Frogner, located west of the older Frogner Park, were in 1924 designated as the site where Vigeland’s sculpture installation would be erected.

Gustav Vigeland, Two Chained Lizards, 1939. Wrought iron.

These were intended as a crowning element for an iron gate on the north side of Vigeland Park, facing Middelthunsgate. The other wrought-iron lizards displayed in this hall were meant for the side gates. Like several other gates planned for the park, this one was never realised. (See also Wrought-Iron Gate with Genii in Gallery IX.)

Nevertheless, Vigeland designed and forged a number of large gates with dragon motifs and ornamental, stylised designs for the monumental main gate facing Kirkeveien. On the Monolith Plateau there are also eight double wrought-iron gates featuring human figures of different ages.