Gardens have long been seen as symbols of freedom and paradise, but also of human control over nature. This wide-ranging display at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (23 February–7 January 2024) of more than 300 works – from architects’ plans to depictions of gardens by artists including Watteau and Monet – takes in orderly Renaissance squares, baroque pleasure gardens and 18th-century attempts to replicate the sublimity of the unspoilt natural world. Highlights include Still Life with a Bouquet of Flowers (1677) by the German Renaissance painter Johan Johnsen and Adam in the Garden of Eden (1914) by the Danish painter Kristian Zahrtmann. The Swedish artist Johan Fredrik Krouthén captures an intimate, domestic scene in View of a Garden (1887), while contemporary commissions by Peter Fries and Emma Helle imagine a more dream-like setting. Find out more on the Nationalmuseum’s website.
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Adam in the Garden of Eden (1914), Kristian Zahrtmann. Nationalmuseum, Sweden
Still Life with a Bouquet of Flowers (1677), Johan Johnsen. Nationalmuseum, Sweden
Sitting under the Arbour (c. 1880), Hugo Birger. Photo: Bodil Karlsson/Nationalmuseum
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