She Lies

You’re now walking along the Langkaia promenade, and you’re probably wondering about that striking glass sculpture floating offshore. This is a permanent installation called She Lies, created by Italian artist Monica Bonvicini. This twelve-meter-tall piece rotates with the wind and the tides, and it’s a three-dimensional reinterpretation of Caspar David Friedrich’s painting The Sea of Ice. Painted in 1823, the original depicts a shipwreck in the Arctic,with jagged ice shards towering in the foreground, a dramatic reminder that nature will always overpower humankind. The painting, and now this sculpture, both convey a sobering message: the wreck represents the hubris of humanity trying in vain to conquer nature. Today, seeing this glacial form drifting in the Oslo bay offers a chilling reflection on our current climate crisis and the consequences of global warming.