‘I prefer winter and
fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the
loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.’
Andrew Wyeth
LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
Landscapes, parks and gardens
The old myth of the Garden of Eden reflects a
fundamental human longing. In paradise Adam and Eve lived in peace. They
knew neither illness nor death. The story of paradise symbolizes our
dream of life in accord with nature.
The setting for this natural, harmonious way of life has always been the
garden. The image of the walled garden has always been used for man’s
longed-for victory over human frailty and imperfection.
The biblical story of paradise symbolically describes an original and
completely natural way of life which is supposed to have been open to
mankind in the beginning, and which promises the restoration of a
kingdom of perfect harmony.
The Garden of Eden has been an inexhaustible model for the planners of
large gardens. The garden or park represents an attempt to recover a
lost paradise on earth and to anticipate the promised kingdom of heaven.
Gardens unite artificial and natural beauty, have all the natural
elements in it, like water, light and air. The models were unknown
islands of desire. You can think of Elysium or Arcadia, also of Atlantis
or Ithaca. Utopia, the ‘Nowhere Land’, the goal of human longing,
unfulfilled in reality.
Beautiful gardens and parks can be a reflection of a more beautiful
world, we all long for. The dream of paradise…
Boboli, Florence
Kronenburgerpark
Nijmegen
Heron hunt
The picture depicts two peregrine falcons attacking a blue heron, while
a group of shepherds look on.
All the other paintings in the room of the Kabinet der Koningin in
The Hague have metamorphosis as their theme, but no one has yet
succeeded in finding any connection between this bucolic scene and
Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Perhaps it should be seen as a forerunner of Dirk
Dalens’s later, non-narrative Arcadian landscapes.
The myth of earthly
paradise
The myth of earthly
paradise, the longing for a life in harmony with nature, we
already find it in literature of ancient times. Roman authors
like Ovid and Vergilius describe the "golden age", the era in
mythology, in which perfect prosperity and peace reigned A
culture without vices. The blissful, innocent life is situated
preferably in Arcadia, a region in Greece, the domain of the
flute-playing god Pan. Arcadia was populated by simple shepherds
who were hospitable, musical and always in love.
The landscape of Arcadia is depicted in herder poetry as grown
over with lush meadows and shady valleys. The land of eternal
Spring.
The earthly paradise is also called
the garden of Eden. 'Eden' (Hebrew) means 'garden of delight'. It is the
place, that God offered Adam and Eve. The freedom they enjoyed there, is
represented in two ways: By the innocent nakedness of Adam and Eve, and
by the peaceful way, in which they handle the animals , and the animals
mutually.
Each period has its own idea about paradise.
In old representations the
earthly paradise is depicted as a place where peace reigns and where
waters are streaming. In western drawings and paintings in the Middle
Ages it was depicted as a kept garden, a kind of laid out park, with
rose beds and walls. Later paradise was depicted as a wild landscape.
Het paradijs van Jan Brueghel de Oude
Het Bijbels Paradijs, 1530,
Lucas Cranach de Oude
Het oordeel van
Paris, Claude Lorrain
Paradise
The islam also knows the
concept of 'paradise; it is the place where those who led a good
life will go to, after their death. According to the Koran the
good persons will meet with many visible and physical pleasures.
Some take this literally, many islam scolars interprete it
allegorically. Paradise should be a green garden with many
trees, fruit, shadow and rivers.
Landscape with Apollo, muses and rivergod, 1652, Claude Lorrain
the word 'paradise' is
probably used by the eastern historic Xenophonus for the first
time. He described the wonderful parks of the Persian kings and
monarchs as paradise. The old Persian word for paradise is
paridæza, in Greek translated as peri (around it)
teichos (wall).
in early Indian this is
paradesa, para (over) and desa (land), so 'abroad'.
Paradise was seen as an exotic country.The word 'paradise'
probably doesn't have a religious origin, but the concept got a
comprehensive religious meaning.
Gardens of Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin (plan of the grounds
after Eosander von Göthe 1708)
Charlottenburg
Landscape art in Holland
In Flevoland: Polderland Garden of Love and Fire
of Daniel Libeskind,
Aardzee of Piet Slegers,
Sea Level of Richard Serra,
De Groene Kathedraal of Marinus Boezem
Observatorium van Robert Morris. This last
piece of art is one of the few real Land Art
projects.
In The Hague: Hemels Gewelf van James Turell
In Emmen Broken Circle and Spiral Hill of
Robert Smithson.
Robert Morris, Observatorium Photo: Gert Schutte
'Instead
of using a paintbrush to make
his art,
Robert Morris would like to use
a bulldozer'
Robert Smithson in Artforum,
New York,
June 1967, no 5 pp. 36 - 40
Dutch
Boboli, Florence
