Landscape and Imagination: From Gardens to Land Art

Beautiful exhibition at Compton Verney looking at how art has reflected the history of gardens.

The show was nicely arranged with a good balance between history and art. The first section looked at the chronological story from formal gardens, through the grand landscape gardens of places like the venue to 20th century ideas of smaller flower gardens. There was a lovely mix of art including a stunning Turner and a couple of nice Stanley Spencers.

The second section looked at how art has created landscape with a section on artists gardens, sculpture in landscape and finishing on land art. I loved a Tissot of ladies in his garden and some water colours of Sandy’s garden.

This was the first time I’d been to Compton Verney so a big shout out for it. It had a great balance of a country house and modern art space. The reception at the visitors’ centre as we bought tickets was delightful. It’s rare to see a ticket seller showing such enthusiasm. Sadly I went on a very wet day so we didn’t get a chance to do the sculpture trail.

Closed 16 June 2024


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