If you are eager for spring and summer to bloom, then you’ll swoon aplenty over the gorgeous new Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence exhibition at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (March 12 to July 29), which spotlights a treasure trove of 150 floral- and arbor-celebrated paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, illustrated books and garden-centric objects, such as elaborate watering cans and notable vases. Yet it is unquestionably the paintings — many sumptuous, colorfully lavish, dappled with brushed dashes of sunlight — that make this razzle-dazzle show likely to entice some viewers to secretly toy with magical thinking, wishing that they could step inside the frames in order to stroll the park paths, sniff the flowers and sit on the leaf-shaded benches. Admittedly, I have happily indulged in such canvas-as-looking-glass fantasies. (Scroll down for favorites.)
The Met, as the world-class museum is breezily and affectionately known, is poised on the edge of 843-acre Central Park — an apropos place to anchor this artistic ode to garden enthusiasts and their havens. Presented are famous works by such floret-loving masters as Claude Monet, Camille Corot and Henri Matisse. Their bold eye-catchers certainly wow. Bevies of blossoms woo, too: peonies and roses by Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet and Henri Fantin-Latour; sunflowers and irises by Vincent van Gogh; lilacs by Mary Cassatt; chrysanthemums by Gustave Caillebotte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas; hollyhocks (a darling of French gardeners) by Berthe Morisot.
data-param-cid="62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a"
data-player-id="44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a"
data-playlist-id=cce06289-75b9-40f5-8676-50e517ab7eb5
data-elements-player="true"
layout="responsive"
width="16"
height="9"
>
A bit of background: In the 19th century, horticultural advances reshaped France’s landscape, as exotic botanical specimens arrived via ships from abroad and local nurserymen experimented with hybridization. As the diversity and accessibility of plants luxuriously grew, so did the avid interest in them. After the French Revolution and ambitious reconstruction of Paris under Napoleon III, the City of Light was reimagined and reinvigorated into a metropolis of tree-lined boulevards, verdant public spaces, lush gardens, backyard retreats and open-air salons. A fashion for civic and personal gardening thrived. Fast forward to why this show is a must-go today: In our modern world that clamors a pinball political-and-social cacophony of drama and disillusion, this Met rosette offers museum visitors a beautiful serene escape , an inviting hideaway of sorts, a soul-lifting visual oasis. If you’re anywhere near New York City in the coming months, veer here — to stop and smell (and see and be inspired by) the roses. And more.
Curated extensively from seven departments at The Met and complemented by private collection loans, the exhibition embraces work by more than 70 artists, spanning the late 18th through early 20th century. Also in the flourish is a short film that zooms in on Claude Monet painting in his cherished garden at his home in Giverny, France. To be able to eye moving footage of Monet — taken a century before our smartphone capabilities have made video ubiquitous — is a delight.
It is giftedly organized by Susan Alyson Stein (Engelhard Curator of 19th-Century European Painting, Department of European Paintings) with Colta Ives (Guest Curator and Curator Emerita, Department of Drawings and Prints) and the assistance of Laura D. Corey (Research Associate, Department of European Paintings). The accompanying book, Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence (published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press), is written by Colta Ives.
For more info about traveling to the Big Apple, see its official guide. For lovely looks at Central Park and its conservancy, explore here. To savor many of the exhibit’s painterly gardens in real life, consider a trip to France. And Monet’s Giverny home — with voluptuous gardens, waterlily pond and footbridges — is now a museum, open to the public, and prettier than ever.