Gardens and Art

Explore the creative interplay between gardens and the fine and decorative arts. This course will consider the garden as an artistic space in its own right whilst acknowledging the garden as an ‘idea’ which has appealed to diverse  artists through  time and across geographical boundaries. Glorious depictions by both well- and lesser-known fine and decorative artists will be discussed. A variety of gardens will be included, from large to small, ambitious to personal and urban to rural. Highlights will include the garden paintings of James Tissot, the grotto at the Medici villa Castello near Florence, flower studies by Toulouse-Lautrec and Beatrix Potter and the land art of the mid-20th century. We will frequently draw on the richness of the V&A collections, which hold a wealth of evidence – often in unexpected places  - for visual images of gardens and flowers. An idiosyncratic look at the creative interplay between gardens and art, designed to delight, intrigue and illuminate.