Statue of Camilla Collett in Oslo, Sculpture in Palace Park, Oslo, Norway

Statue of Camilla Collett in Oslo is a bronze figure of an older woman in a long draped dress, standing with her arms crossed over her chest on a dark rectangular stone pedestal. In front of the base, a low black metal fence encloses a bed of pink flowers, while dense green trees rise behind the figure against a bright sky.

The memorial was first planned in 1895 by the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, and after a slow selection process the sculptor Gustav Vigeland received the commission in 1908. He made the work in 1909, and it was unveiled in Slottsparken in 1911.

The choice to show the writer as an old woman, with her head bowed and her dress caught by the wind, reads as a reference to a life spent arguing for women's place in public life. Many people pause here on walks through the park, and the flower bed at the base gives the bronze figure a cared-for, everyday presence rather than a distant memorial tone.

The sculpture sits in an open section of the royal park, with flat paved or gravel paths leading close enough to view the face and drapery from several angles. A visit works well before or after walking through the surrounding green space, since the figure is outdoors and the flower bed changes with the season.

Vigeland first proposed two designs for the memorial, one showing a young woman with a bonnet and the other called "In Storm," and the jury eventually surprised many by picking the harsher, wind-swept version. One of Collett's sons disliked the draft when he saw it in the studio, but the sculptor kept the figure unchanged.