On the necessity of art and gardening

Until Jan 09, 2022

Gardens have appealed to our imagination for centuries. We associate them with harmonious bliss, a place to witness the cycle of life and death, a place of contemplation, and a refuge from the worries and cares of daily life. And certainly in these times of being cooped up at home, there is a strong desire to have one’s own bit of greenery.

The botanical revolution, on the necessity of art and gardening is the story of the garden as a fertile source of inspiration for artists. Throughout the centuries, artists, writers, poets and philosophers have described, depicted and defined the garden in constantly changing ways. Gerrit Komrij – whose 1990 Huizinga lecture is the source of the exhibition title – described how, for much of history, the idea of the garden was closely interrelated with changing mentalities and intellectual controversies. Gardens remain a rich source of inspiration for contemporary art, though the prevailing theme is no longer romantic longing but a call to reshape our relationship with the earth. How do today’s artists reflect on themes such as primeval paradise, vegetable gardens, botany and climate change? Surprising classic and modern examples reveal the deep roots of the exhibition’s themes.

Artists
Derk Alberts, Maria Thereza Alves, Yael Bartana, Jurgen Bey, Juliette Blightman, Abraham Bloemaert, Johannes Bosschaert, Ambrosius Bosschaert de Jonge, Andrea Büttner, Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács, Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide), CPR (Charlotte Rooijackers), Meester van Delft, Jeremy Deller, Elspeth Diederix, Stan Douglas, Albrecht Dürer, Cecile Espinasse, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Vincent van Gogh, Lungiswa Gqunta, Hendrick Goltzius, Rumiko Hagiwara, Saskia Noor van Imhoff, Patricia Kaersenhout, Tetsumi Kudo, Herman Justus Kruyder, Jort van der Laan, Hans van Lunteren & Ienke Kastelein, Kerry James Marshall, meester van Paulus en Barnabas, Maria Sibylla Merian, Maria Pask, Otto van Rees, Willem de Rooij, Roelant Saverij, Jennifer Tee, Henk Wildschut

Centraal Museum
Agnietenstraat 1
3512 XA Utrecht