The Garden in Art History: The Art of the Twentieth Century Garden

Gardens have a special place in art history, they are a constant source of inspiration to artists and have continually been explored as an aesthetic and symbolic motif by art historians.

Talks will take place in our Clore Learning Studio on Saturday mornings and will include light refreshments from our cafe. There will be an illustrated talk followed by a Q&A to explore these fascinating subjects together.

The twentieth century saw technological and social change on an unprecedented scale. Global conflict, the breakdown of sexual and social norms, the collapse of old institutions, and the emergence of new technologies led to the rise of urgent and exciting movements in art, such as modernism, surrealism, pop art, and conceptual art.

Against this complex backdrop, what place did the garden find in the work of visual artists of the twentieth century? If the garden shifted away from being an exclusive, pastoral idyll for the privileged few towards something more accessible and democratised, what did this mean in terms of its representation in art?

Including works by, amongst others, Eric Ravilious, Eileen Agar, Duncan Grant, Cedric Morris, Winifred Nicholson, Edwina Sandys, Frances Hodgkins, Ivor Abrahams, Sarah Jones, and Tracy Emin, this talk will show how – across its representation in painting, photography, printmaking, and drawing – the garden was not solely a source of beauty and inspiration, but emerged as a rich, compelling metaphorical space for psychological, sexual, and emotional expression.

The talk will explore the intersection between science and art, and how the private suburban garden and municipal public garden became increasingly important spaces. It will examine, too, how despite or because of increasing urbanisation, the act of nurturing and tending a garden in a period where so much was being torn down and redrawn has much to say to us in our current turbulent times.