Erling Viksjø was a Norwegian architect and inventor, famous for his Nordic modernist architecture and collaboration with artists. Viksjø won the competition to design the new Norwegian government quarters in 1956, a monumental task that saw widespread use of his, and his collaborator Sverre Jystad’s, invention Naturbetong (natural concrete”)Jystad & Viksjø, 1950. – a method for casting concrete inset with natural stones.Gunnarsjaa, 2023.
The duo also invented a method for embedding artworks directly into the structural foundation by sandblasting the natural concrete.Ibid. One of the government quarter buildings designed by Viksjø, the Y-block, featured two large such pieces by Pablo Picasso:In collaboration with Carl Nesjar. Fiskerne (“the fishermen”)Picasso & Nesjar, 1970a. and Måken (”the seagull”).Picasso & Nesjar, 1970b. Three additional murals by Picasso are located in the neighbouring H-block.Andral, 2013.
Pablo Picasso’s Fiskerne (“the fishermen”) on the facade of the Y-block. When the Y-block was demolished, Picasso’s art was moved to a different location in the government quarters. Photo: Astrid Westvang.
In 2011, the government quarters were damaged in a terrorist bombing. Despite strong protests, an official decision was made to tear down the Y-block in 2019. It was finally demolished in 2020.Grønvold, 2021.
Monokrom’s Viksjø typeface was conceived during this protest. A number of letterforms from the typeface were cast in concreteHelland & Sabel, 2019. and featured in a 2019 exhibition.Solvang et al, 2019. Two concrete Y’s were produced – one is in private ownership, the other was donated to the department responsible for the demolition.
Andral, J.-L. (2013). Picassos drøm. In K. Hellandsjø (Ed.), Picasso-Oslo: Kunst og arkitektur i regjeringskvartalet [Picasso-Oslo: Art and architecture in the government building complex], pp. 4–7. [Exhibition Catalog]. Nasjonalmuseet. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from regjeringen.no
Grønvold, U. (24 august 2021). Regjeringskvartalet [The Government Quarters]. In Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from snl.no
Gunnarsjaa, A. (1 August 2023). Erling Viksjø. In Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from snl.no
Helland, F., Sabel, N. (2019). Byråkrati [Letters in cast concrete]. Oslo.
Jystad, S., Viksjø, E. (1950). Naturbetong [Nature-Concrete] [Material, casting technique].
Picasso, P., Nesjar, C. (1970a). Fiskerne [The Fishermen, drawing sandblasted in concrete]. Oslo.
Picasso, P., Nesjar, C. (1970b). Måken [The Seagull, drawing sandblasted in concrete]. Oslo.
Solvang, A. B., Kvammen, A., Nielsen, C. Helland, F., Dæhli, J. H., Hembre Singstad, S. Singstad, & Claussen, C. (2019). Spreng den/Riv den [Blow it up/Tear it down] [Group Exhibition]. Oslo.
Viksjø, E. (1970). Y-blokka [The Y building] [Nordic modernist architecture]. Oslo.
