Representations of the garden in art
IMAGINARIUM: An Alternate History of Art
Welcome to Imaginarium: an alternate history of art. A podcast where we delve in to the most obscure parts of art history.
Hello dear listeners, I’m your host Nadjah, and in this podcast, we try to shed light on less studied parts of the history of art and visual culture. In today’s episode, we’re going to go out in the garden, smell some beautiful flowers, sit in the shade and breathe in the warm summer air, and simply enjoy being outside. A garden is something that has been portrayed a lot in art, and today we’re going to delve into that subject, and try to discuss what it means within the broader field of art history and what it can represent for us.
Let us go, my darlings!
First of all, before we start, I think it can be pertinent to ask oneself but What is a garden? Maybe this is redundant, but i do believe that its still nice to have all of our terms be nice and clear and make sure that everyone is on the same page so that we can all move forward knowing what each terms mean. The garden is your own small part of nature, enclosed and isolated. I think one of the main features of the garden, is its particularity of being a personal corner of nature. It can be inspiring, reassuring and soothing. Gardens are also domesticated nature as molded by human, they are designed and curated, they are a construction by people who fashion and create the space and how it will exist. Gardens, even though they are created with natural elements, are not inherently natural, it is a testament to the artificiality of gardens. Even when the plants and flowers seem wild, it is a very controlled wildness. The english gardens that try to convey a feeling of untamed nature are very much shaped to be that way. Gardens, in a nutshell, is a form of enclosed domesticated nature.
Gardening, can be considered as a form of art somehow, I’ll get into that more later, but it is important to understand that the simple actions of deciding where to plant flowers, and how to fashion and design the space can end up creating a work of art in the shape of a garden. There are all kinds of gardens, but I’m sure you can picture those very elaborate gardens, to the style of either Japanese zen gardens such as the Ryoan-Ji Garden in Kyoto, a rock garden built first built in the 1450, but was destroyed a few times, this garden was recreated one last time in 1799 and remained since then. As well as botanic gardens, the garden of Versailles, the gardens of Claude Monet at Giverny, or maybe again the Generalife Gardens in Granada Spain, which are part of the Alhambra palace. Beautiful and elaborate gardens are all over the world, but also, maybe, the simpler square of land behind one’s house, or even a balcony or simply a window sill.
One of the things to think about when it comes to the way gardens are depicted in art is the concept of presentation and representation. When you think about the garden as a form of art in itself, then the painting of a garden will then become as if you are painting another painting. It is simply art in a medium represented in another medium, a painting within a painting. I will not be here to talk about gardening, even tho i do like it a lot, it’s been a personal hobby of mine that always brings me great joy and pleasure, and is always a very much needed break from my day job and from the continued hustle of modern capitalist life, but today we’re really here to talk about this representation of the garden in art and visual history.
Those gardens, as I will talk a bit later during the episode, can also end up becoming the site for actual ephemeral and in situ work of art. When we talk of the concept of in situ in art, what it means is « on site », so the space in which the art is, becomes an integral part of the art in itself. unlike let’s say a painting, that can be appreciated everywhere, from the atelier it was made in, or to the museum or gallery it ends up in. The painting is not dependent on a pa rticular space and physical boundaries to exist.
But, with these more contemporary and abstract practices of in-situ art that use the garden, it make it so that the garden is an integral part of the work of art. It thus becomes a very concrete way of using the garden as one of the mediums needed to create the work of art. Something that has become more common in the recent decades, especially as artists try to confront their relationship to nature amidst the increasing climate anxiety. Ephemeral art, in my opinion, is a tool that can be definitely very powerful, when it comes to handling these very sensitive topics in a really compelling way. Ephemeral art is a kind of artistic practice that gained traction especially since the 1960s in the contemporary world of art, and the term is very self-explanatory, but basically its a piece of art that is not made to last for more than an ephemeral moment. The art is made to be appreciated during a finite amount of time, and is often used to explore themes such as change, decay, loss and the passage of time. Usually, that artwork will only happen one time or cannot be created into an object that can be exhibited in a museum or in a gallery. This can usually be something such as performance art or happenings, or maybe, art created using either the garden as a medium or interacting within the physical space of the garden. The very nature of art created using natural materials from the garden makes it really suitable for the practice of ephemeral art, with works of art such as the Flower Carpet Festival in Belgium or Jeff Koons’ flower sculptures, and also Andy Goldsworthy whose body of work consist mainly of sculptures that are created from natural materials, such as flowers, leaves, and more and creates art in gardens and natural environment.
I can’t do an exhaustive history of the intersection of art and nature across all of art history, but the subject of the garden is far from being new to the world of art, even during the classical period, it figured often in works of art, whether it was with wall paintings in Ancient Egypt more than four thousand years ago, or adorning greek vases. The subject of the garden is one that seems mythical and mysterious, and yet a comforting place. These depictions show explicitly that gardens where a tangible part of life in the antiquity. Every culture and society had their own relationship and ascribed their own meaning when it came to gardens. From Japanese zen gardens with a focus on closeness to nature and minimalism, to the very structured design of Islamic gardens which usually follow a very mathematical and regular construction, with a fountain or small pool at its center. The garden becomes a reflection of the way society is constructed. It can be a microcosm of life as they comprehend it.
And thus, it became a definite subject of art and paintings. Gardens, but also nature as a whole, the art of landscape painting became a staple of the world of fine art, especially during the 18th and 19th century, where plein air painting became very popular. The act of plein air painting, plein air, which means in french open air, was one where a lot of painters took their art supplies and set themselves outside to draw, sketch or paint the landscape in front of them. Of course, artists have been drawing landscapes for hundred years, but I think it is especially in the 19th century that it really peaked with art genres such as picturesque, impressionism and the school of Barbizon. Part of it was due to the progress made when it came to the quality of portable paint, before that ti was very much the norm to start a very rough sketch outside, and finish up the painting inside the studio. But as the 19th century went along, and impressionism started becoming popular, artists took their newly invented portable easel and newly innovated paint tubes and went Out to paint the nature as they saw it. Nature in its entirety became the main muse of artists during that century, and gardens were simply part of that movement that swept the art world at that time.
It is impossible to talk about the subject of the garden in art without talking about Claude Monet. Even though I always try to talk more about lesser known artists and marginalized artists, but when it comes to the intersection of the garden and the art, there’s simply no getting around mr. Monet, and especially his gardens in Giverny. I don’t feel like there’s really any need to present Claude Monet, after all, he truly is one of the most well known names of Art history, but I think it is still relevant to talk a bit about him and his place within the broader field of art, to understand how he fits into this talk of gardens and art.
Monet is a french artist who was one of the guiding pioneers of the movement of impressionism. I think it’s even fair to say that his body of art defines the genre in itself, even tho there were a lot of artists who were part of this movement and were also quite influential, such as Berthe Morisot and Alfred Sisley, but truly none are known as explicitly as an impressionist painter as Claude Monet is now in the grand portrait of art history, apart from maybe Edgar Degas. Monet truly embodies this movement and its characteristics, and helped shaped it a lot from its infancy and onwards. This genre started in the 1860s, with a small group of friends, including Monet, Camile Pissaro and Pierre Auguste Renoir, who mainly shared a similar artistic vision and formal techniques in their art. There was a pushback from them, and also from a number of artists just generally, during that era, against the academic teachings in art, a rigorous art education that put the emphasis on representing either historical or mythological subjects, this was the rigid structure of the world of fine art, of the Salon and of the art that was considered as Correct and Serious. And so during the 2nd half of the 19th century started to emerge art movements that tried to be a counterpoint to that very rigid and restrictive understanding of art.
From realism with Courbet, then to the many movements during the late 19th century from impressionism, art nouveau, the arts and crafts movement, post-impressionism and symbolism. That era was one that was bubbling with creativity and innovation. It is a period that I love and come back to often when it comes to art, because the historical context of it fascinates me, the 19th century figures as this transitional period between the pre-industrialist era in history and the post-industry era, and it is interesting to see how people navigated that period of transition, and in my perspective as an artist, how this period in history was lived and recorded through the art that was coming out during that era. From all of the different movements and the way the art was received and what ended up being chosen as representative works of that era.
So during the late 19th century in France is when Impressionism began, more specifically from 1874 to roughly the end of the century, but also I think it’s good to keep in mind, that even if a movement is no longer trendy anymore, it doesn’t mean that the artists who are part of that particular movement will suddenly stop painting the way they used to and move on to something else, the dates are generally just a guideline to the mainstream appeal of this genre. This art movement is a genre that put the emphasis on lights and colors and using loose brush strokes instead of a very defined line. One of the things that you can notice from impressionist art, is how instead of a very foggy form and shape, it often feels unfinished, as if only an impression of an image instead of a more realistic look, it would be more about how that moment makes you feel. Of wanting to portray the experience of a particular moment in time, instead of wanting to achieve realism. And with doing that, somehow the artists would end up achieving more of a real representation of how it feels to live that moment instead of looking at a realistic reproduction of it. Concretely, it would be decline itself with an art that has an undefined form and the use of very vibrant colors and the emphasis on light, which gives it an almost transparent quality to it.
They also visually offered a very real visual contrast to the accepted art style of the time, the one that was enforced at the Academy of Fine Arts. An art style that was more visually realistic and grand, with a more restrained and somber color palette. In opposition to that, the vibrant pastel colors of impressionist paintings really distinguished themselves. Personally, impressionism and post-impressionism are two movements that I genuinely adore and the unrestrained use of color in a way thats just so harmoniously pleasing and cohesive and soft looking is a definite reason of why it appeals so much to me personally.
So the most important things to remember when it comes to impressionism is the almost transparent use of color, the use of vibrant light and a sort of undefined formlessness to the subject of the painting. A formlessness that would simply accentuate as time would go on. The art from the later part of impressionism were hazy and dreamy, and slightly ethereal. Impressionism is a genre that relies heavily on painting nature, especially how it appears during the changing lights of the day. We can understand this It is no surprise that gardens, both public and private, were thus a major component of the art that was created during that time.
During these later years of the 19th century, there was, lets say, an engouement for the oriental aesthetic, I know I keep talking about orientalism, but genuinely, it’s not my fault these people were obsessed with the exotic other. This time around, the fascination that shook the west, especially in France, was with Japan. Yes, we’re indeed talking about the 19th century weebs. Or how it’s more commonly known, the concept of Japonism, which is how this love for the Japanese art and aesthetic was named.. It was only a few years prior, in 1854, that Japan opened itself to international trade with western countries, which explains the curiosity from western countries, but not how weird they’re being about it. Please be normal for once in your life. From wearing kimonos and painting portraits of themselves in full Japanese regalia, or surrounded by beautiful Japanese objects and decorative items. For better or for worse, the french people of the late 19th century were entranced by all things exotic, and a lot of the art made in these last decades of the 19th century was heavily influenced by this new-found interest for the east.
Such as ukiyo-e woodblock prints were a definitive influence on several art movements, such as Art Nouveau but also it heavily influenced the way impressionism developed on a formal way, especially when it comes to the landscapes and paintings of natural environment. From the simplified colors and shapes, to the delicate and almost transparent quality to these prints, the stylistic choices that were being taken by european artists in the last decades of the 19th century were deeply shaped by this new interest for japanese art. Woodblock painting was a medium often used to depict nature, such as The Garden in Autumn by Kawase Hasui. I have already mentioned also in a previous episode, how impressionism also existed in Japan, and how japanese artists created art works in this style, but I find it really interesting how impressionism was a movement that was profoundly influenced by certain core tenets of japanese woodblock prints, and then, afterwards, japanese artists took impressionism as an art movement and made it theirs. It’s a really interesting circle of art styles and how art evolves and moves through both time and space.
But now, let’s go back to Claude Monet again, just for a tiny bit. To him, and the gardens that ended up being the foundation of his legacy as an artist in a lot of ways. Gardens were an intergral part of his career, his early career was spent paintings scenes from the garden of his aunt, and until the later part of his life where Giverny became the central focus of a lot of his body of work. Giverny and its gardens were where he ended up living and setting his outdoor studio. I say gardens and not garden, because he had two of them, which was very extra of him.These two gardens were extravagantly beautiful, his flower garden as well as his water garden, and both gardens figured a lot as the main subjects of his later career paintings
For Monet, the existence of his garden, of this space where he could simply be, was a refuge and was most of all an essential part of understanding and analyzing his art. And this principle was a building block of how he approached his art and especially within the context of impressionism, the art genre he is intimately associated with. The same way his art was influenced by Japonism, so was his garden, and it is possible to see how the artistic influences seep into the way he created and modeled the place in his garden, specifically the water garden, which had a japanese style wooden bridge in the midst of it.
The imagined garden of Monet’s art and the real actual garden he painstakingly created in his house in Giverny, both are works of art in the purest sense and both are passions he poured his effort, skills and time into. I think that it is very possible to see that he approached the creation of his garden, almost the same way he approached his art, with careful attention to the composition and the colors of it. His garden became his art studio, the environment in which he painted his art work. His garden became thus subject of his art, and art in itself. As the curator of the royal academy Ann Dumas says «It was a visual environment over which they had complete control»
The garden was his subject of fascination, his muse even, to the point that his interest lied way more into studying horticulture and learning abt plants and flowers, rather than keeping up with the academic side of the art world. He was a gardener first, and an artist second. But he could not be the gardener he was if it was not for his artistic vision, and he could have not been the artist he ended up becoming, and leaving his mark this indelibly on history, if he did not have this love and passion for nature and his gardens. So many of his paintings, such as The Artist’s Garden at Giverny in 1900 and Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte in 1899, to name just a few, are directly drawn from life from this own gardens. But he was not the only artist who Many of these painters that take the garden as a subject of their art. The act of gardening was becoming increasingly more popular, along with the rise of an interest in botanical science and horticulture. There is also a definite link between botanical sciences and the colonial expansion of imperialist powers in the 19th century, but today is not the day we dive into this. I might do it tho if it interests people.
A lot of artists drew inspiration and solace from their gardens. Artists such as Gustave Klimt, and his art work « Farm Garden with Sunflowers » in 1905, which is such a lush and vibrant and colorful painting where greens occupy most of the surface, with saturated flowers splattered across the piece. Artists like John Singer Sargent or Pierre Bonnard. Or Élisée Maclet or Frederick Gore. The subject of the garden is one that is almost universal.For a lot of these artists, their gardens were a sanctuary, a haven away from the rest of the world, a space where they could feel both safe and peaceful and have a sense that for one single afternoon, nothing could touch you, where you could do nothing and be left alone to simply be. In a world that constantly demands from us to be constantly productive and being a lovely and unthinking cog of the capitalistic machine, there something quite brave and almost revolutionary to simply take the time to do nothing.
As I talked about in the podcast THE LEFT PAGE when i was invited by my friend Frank to talk about the book « How to do Nothing » by Jenny Odell. Which, by the way, you can find that discussion over on Frank’s podcast, I’ll leave the link down below so you can check it out it you want to, but in the way it concerns the current subject we’re discussing, the simple act of sitting in a garden and voluntarily doing nothing, and thus removing yourself from the never ending pace of capitalism, can be construed as being a radical act of self care even somehow. And I think especially in age where so many of us are simply exhausted, I mean i dont know about you, but trying to navigate everything that constitutes modern life is simply. ..soul shatteringly exhausting and I think we all need rest.
Jenny Odell, the author of this book, also talks about gardens. About her spending time in a rose garden, doing nothing for a tiny while, and how it subsequently influenced that book she eventually wrote. The garden, even today, has retained its meaning as a space of refuge, and of rest, a space where people can feel safe and at ease, and that still is a protection from the rest of the world. A concept that can be seen in a fair few pieces of media, such as The Secret Garden, and movies from Studio Ghibli, with its lush and overgrown nature. I think I could also specifically mention the cartoon show Over the Garden Wall, where the garden symbolizes the safety of being home, and beyond the gates is the dangerous and sometimes terrifying world, but also the intriguing and mysterious world that beckons us. The garden is a safe space and comforting space, where the nature there is controlled and domesticated.
Taking nature and gardens as a main subject of the art they created was a way to create a feeling of connection to nature when the rapid pace of a growing industrialization alienated them from it. And it is something that still persistes to this day, there’s been increasing proof that the way capitalist life alienates us from our own lives. Turning to escapism, this desire of somehow wanting to run away from the hustle, the constant pressure to be productive, to work and to give all your energy and time for corporations to earn profit. It is not surprising that we have been seeing a reactionary response to this whole concept.
Even though, its primarily an internet aesthetic, the concept of Cottagecore truly does embody this opposite reaction to the increasingly jaded look toward the never-ending rhythm of capitalism, and with the pandemic of the coronavirus which we also cannot… ignore. Everyone is burnt out in one way or another, and I think this is just getting increasingly obvious that this is not a pace that anyone can sustain, especially with climate anxiety that is something that we are all increasingly are experiencing if we are paying even the least bit of attention and have a bit of empathy. So the same way artists of the 19th century wanted to leave the city, cottagecore and all of the surrounding mindset around it is a testimony of how people wish to enjoy a simpler life, where the most complicated choice they have to make is whether to take a nap under the tree or in the midst of flowers, instead of having to constantly and constantly reply to emails non-stop. I swear that if I receive one more email…
So basically, it is possible to see how similar it is to the way modern artists also wanted to leave the city and be closer to nature. This sort of thinking is a reaction to the overwhelming pace of modern life. The idea of romanticizing mundane and daily life events is something that helps us get through life in general. I’m a huge fan of romanticizing your own life, especially the small things, I think it helps feeling grounded in your own life especially when life gets hard, and there’s not denying that it has been difficult for so many. There’s a danger to cottagecore, though, and it lies in how people can conflate the aesthetic, which is harmless and cute, and mostly consists in cute looser clothing, cooking, cute things and trying generally lead a life that is slower and more sustainable, there’s risks of conflating this with quote unquote traditional values of white supremacy and settler colonialism and all that jazz, so I think it is always important to be critical of the media we consume.
Before we go, I put a bunch of relevant resources on today’s subject in the show notes, you have some books as well as some theses and articles that you can read if you maybe want to further your knowledge and read more on the subject. As always, all the relevant images will also be on all of our social platforms @ imaginarium_pod on instagram as well as on twitter. This podcast was written, narrated and produced, by yours truly, Nadjah, If you want to support this podcast, you can do so on patreon.com-nadjah , n a d j a h . I want to take this opportunity to thank my patrons : may leigh, vilja sala, Trung-Le Cappecci-Nguyen, Jak, Sam Hirst, Jenny, Jay Harker as well as Nathalie, thank you so much for making the work i do with this podcast possible.
Today’s Recommendation of the day is Elizabeth Von Arnim’s books, especially these three that i love : a solitary summer, her german garden as well as enchanted april. She is an author that I adore, but most of all, I deeply love how she talks about her gardens and how she describes the feelings of simply being outside in the sun and being able to finally unwind.