A promenade through the world's gardens, from Japan to England and from ancient Egypt through to modern times.
The exhibition presents famous gardens from all over the world and tells the stories of people who looked to gardens for inspiration, love, luck or sanctuary.
The various performances and the search for Paradise form one of the central themes, as does the history of European garden culture from the Middle Ages through to the Romantic period. Located in front of the Museum, an urban garden planted with vegetables and herbs draws us back to the here and now.
The exhibition presents the big names in art, such as the Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro, along with Claude Monet and Max Liebermann. Contemporary artists, such as Ai Weiwei and Wolfgang Laib, who will strew his art work on the floor of the Museum using pollen, will also feature.
One highlight of the exhibition focuses on gardens in Indian painting. The variety of the gardens and the close relationship that people have with nature can be seen in over sixty pictures: sumptuous palace grounds with geometric gardens, terraces that host lively debates and snug garden pavilions where lovers meet.
Westliches Paradies des Amitabha
Taima Mandara
Japan, 18. Jh.
Hängerolle, Tusche, Farben und Gold auf Seide
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln; A 43
© Rheinisches Bildarchiv
Der Gartens im Amun-Tempel des Grabes von Sennefer
Theben-West, um 1400 v.Chr.
Zeichnung von Ippolito Rosellini, 1834
© Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Morgenkonzert
Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885), um 1848/1850
Öl auf Sperrholz
Kunsthaus Zürich, Sammlung Johanna und Walter L. Wolf, 1984
© 2016 Kunsthaus Zürich
Wespe und Haarraupe auf Pfeilwurzpflanze
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806), 1788
Farbholzschnitt aus der zweibändigen Gedichtsammlung Bilderbuch ausgewählter Insekten
© Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Fotografie: Jürgen Liepe
«Ich war so scheu»; Krishna und Radha treffen sich zum ersten Mal
Meister der ersten Generation nach Nainsukh und Manaku von Guler
Indien, Pahari-Region, Guler, 1775/1780
Museum Rietberg Zürich, Dauerleihgabe Barbara und Eberhard Fischer
© Foto: Rainer Wolfsberger