Time for another creepy museum, maybe not in the classic sense, but it’s still a bit weird for an art museum. What am I talking about? That would be the Vigeland Museum at Slemdal, one of Oslo’s best kept secrets. The museum is basically a mausoleum to artist Gustav Vigeland and his brother Emanuel’s life and work, which is actually true; besides the frescoes and sculptures, Emanuel’s ashes are still preserved in the belfry of the building. The main attraction is a dark, barrel-vaulted room, which is completely covered with frescoes, including Vita, showing human life from conception till death, although a bit erotically. In the darkness, there are a bunch of large bronze figures, all nude, depicting what procreation looks like. North of the museum is Frogner Park, where more life-sized nudes are on view, including a woman mounting a bear and a muscular man throwing and kicking babies in the air. That rhymed. Even though I don’t condone violence towards children, I can’t help but want the statue in my home…I can put it directly under a framed copy of my useless teaching certificate.
Vigeland Museum at Slemdal
