Nr. 28: To menn sitter rygg mot rygg

Nr. 28: To menn sitter rygg mot rygg stands in Frogner Park in Oslo, a granite sculpture by Gustav Vigeland. It shows two naked men sitting back to back, each turned away from the other. The piece is the first stop on the Oslo tour and belongs to the Vigeland installation, among Norway's most significant sculpture parks.

Frogner Park holds more than two hundred sculptures, all designed by Vigeland, in bronze, granite and wrought iron. Granite groups line the pathways and gather around the Monolith Plateau, where a seventeen-metre column rises over figures set on the steps. The artist chose granite for its durability and for the fine detail it can hold. Stonemasons cut granite from the quarry, translating his detailed models into full-scale works. His work on the park spanned several decades, and together the groups explore life, relationships and the passage of time.

The figures carry careful anatomical detail, and their posture stresses the connection between the two men, or perhaps the distance. What the pair means stays open, a question that fits the sculptor's wider interest in the complexities of human relationships. The park works as a sequence: you move from group to group, and each offers a different perspective on the human condition. The sculptures stand in the open air, and you can visit at any time of year. Granite endures, so the two backs stay pressed together, and what joins them is yours to settle.