Advertisement

Miniature of Norway’s Sinnataggen sells for 1.6 million kroner

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Miniature of Norway’s Sinnataggen sells for 1.6 million kroner
Sinnataggen in Vigeland Sculpture Park. File photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

An original Gustav Vigeland miniature of the famous Sinnataggen (Spitfire or Angry Boy) sculpture was auctioned in Oslo on Monday.

Advertisement

One of several existing original versions of the statue, an icon of the Norwegian capital’s Vigeland Sculpture Park, the 34.5cm-tall miniature version was sold for 1.6 million kroner (163,000 euros) to an anonymous telephone bidder, reports broadcaster NRK.

Norwegian sculptor Vigeland, who created the statue, was born in 1869 and died in 1943. His sculpture park in Oslo remains one of Norway’s biggest tourist attractions.

According to the Vigeland museum, the famous sculptor completed up to ten different miniature versions of the Angry Boy statue during his lifetime.

The version auctioned on Monday has a number of noticeable differences to the statue in the Sculpture Park, which is 83cm tall.

It is considerably older, having been cast in 1911. The park version was modelled in 1928.

Unlike the more famous, larger version, the miniature also has hair on its head.

“It is also somewhat rougher in style than the Sinnataggen in the Vigeland Park,” Hans Richard Elgheim of the Grav Wedels Plass auction house told NRK.

Elgheim said that Vigeland’s original vision was to create several Angry Boys to form part of a fountain complex, with several possible locations in Oslo mooted.

A Sinnataggen becoming available for sale is a rare event, he added.

“One was sold for 1.1 million kroner 15 years ago, and it could be another 15-20 years before it happens again.

“It is a first-class national icon,” Elgheim said.

READ ALSO: Norway’s Sinnataggen and Monolitten fair game for copycats: ruling

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also