My Extended Essay is about Vigeland Park and Gustav Vigeland, the creator of the park. I learned what the park as a whole stood for and what each individual group represented, and concentrated my study on one specific group, the Trees of Life. It was very difficult to find information on this area though. Each group of statues has a unified meaning about life. They show how life can vary due to the way you were raised and the circumstances. The park is compiled of several sections: the Bridge, the Monolith Plateau, the Children's Playground, and the Fountain. There are 192 sculptures with 600 figures in the park.
The Fountain is quite central to the whole park. It is surrounded by the Trees of Life. The trees show the never ending life cycle from birth to death. It includes childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. These people depict different types of love, fear, happiness, lust, and anger. They have three different meanings, man surrounded by life-giving nature, the different stages of life from childhood to death, and the life cycle and regeneration. In addition, each statue has a realistic motif. Vigeland designed the trees in chronological order so the circle of life is always flowing, never really changing, it just is altered at varying degrees, and the circle never stops.
Gustav Vigeland managed to create a park that can never go out of style or become out dated. I studied his youth and adult life prior to when he first started on the park. Vigeland's influences included Rodin, Munch, and his father. He spent almost all of his adult life ( about 40 years) devoted to creating the park that expands over 80 acres. There are still statues being erected in the park today. Who knows when the park will truly be finished.