Gardens of the world

Tile panel with garden scene Iran, first quarter 17th century Quartz frit ceramics, Cuerda-seca technique © bpk / The Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe exhibition "Gardens of the world" in the Museum Rietberg shows the history in the 30 museum rooms. It begins with Paradise Worlds, which show that in both Europe and Asia, paradise is usually depicted as an enchanting garden. The prelude also includes an installation by German artist Wolfgang Laib, who has scattered a brilliant yellow field of pollen with pine pollen. It symbolizes the radically reduced form of a garden: the beginning of plant life.This is followed by a more or less chronological tour: from the gardens of ancient Egypt to the gardens of Islam, from Japanese and Chinese gardens to European garden culture. Special exhibits include the famous insect book by the 18th-century Japanese woodcut master Kitagawa Utamaro, to which a separate room is dedicated. For the first time, "Gardens of the World" also reunites two parts of an Egyptian limestone relief depicting tree goddesses that are otherwise housed in two different museums. Probably the most beautiful garden painting of Islamic art, on loan from the Louvre, crowns the section of gardens of the Orient.Great names of art are represented in the exhibition, such as Claude Monet, Carl Spitzweg or Max Liebermann. Also present are garden paintings from Switzerland. Works by Paul Klee Präsidialdepartement show how much his work and his approach to the garden changed over the course of his life. Paintings by the Thurgau artist Adolf Dietrich illustrate how the same subject - the neighbor's garden - can always inspire new works.Also on display are contemporary artworks that make reference to historical gardens: replicas of the fountain figures from the garden of the now defunct Summer Palace in Beijing will be exhibited by Ai Weiwei; photo collages by David Hockney show how Japan's most famous garden, the rock garden of Ryoan-ji in Kyoto, can be viewed in different ways. Roman Signer is also present with a video from the garden of Wörlitz, the oldest landscape garden in Germany.Numerous other multimedia installations help to convey the theme of "gardens." From 15 feature films from the years 1940 to 2011, a compilation of scenes set in gardens is shown: the garden as the scene of persecution and murder, but also of seduction and love. An app created especially for the exhibition turns one of the world's oldest garden plans from Ancient Egypt into a 3-D experience.The exhibition runs from May 13 to October 9, 2016.