A Mother and her Son 1907 - 1914

Gustav Vigeland sculpted this marble sculpture, titled "A Mother and her Son", and it now resides in the Statens Museum for Kunst. Here we see the archetypal embrace between mother and child, a theme that echoes through history, from ancient Egyptian depictions of Isis and Horus to Renaissance Madonnas. The nakedness of the figures speaks to a primal innocence, a return to a prelapsarian state before the Fall. Note how the mother’s body envelops the child, a protective gesture that conjures images of the Pietà, where Mary cradles the lifeless body of Christ. In both instances, the pose conveys a deep, visceral sorrow, but here, it's tempered by an overwhelming sense of love and tenderness. This embrace taps into our collective memory, stirring subconscious feelings of security, comfort, and unconditional love. The cyclical progression of the mother-child motif resurfaces, evolving, and taking on new meanings across centuries.