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

Source: Museum De Paviljoens, Almere

 

                                                                                   Het Loo, Apeldoorn

                           

                                   T O P

 

            
 

                                          One of my favorite landscapes... Bosco Sacro, Bomarzo

                                     
                                                Fighting dragon                                                                          Pegasus


                                                                          Germany and Italy...

                                             
                                              Hermitage, Bayreuth                                                       Detail Boboli Garden, Florence

             

                                       Four pictures (1998) of the garden of Villa Garzoni, Collodi, also a lovely garden...

                          

Lost Gardens of Heligan

 http://www.heligan.com

Mud Maid, Lost Gardens Photo: markbagnall

                                   T O P

 

De Hoge Veluwe (Holland)

De Hoge Veluwe National Park encompasses more than 5.000 hectares of woodlands, moorland, grasslands and sand drifts.
There are more than 40 kilometres of cycle paths.
The famous 1700 White Bikes are available free of charge at the Park entrances and the Visitor Centre.
The Park's different landscapes are home to a wide diversity of plant and animal species. From the rare Fritillary to the imposing Red Deer, from the Alcon Blue to the Dwarf Viper's-grass; they all live in the Park.
The Park is also home to dozens of Red List species, such as the Wheatear, the Wryneck, the Moor Frog and the Grass Snake.
The fauna, or animal life in the Park, is as diversified as its lavish flora. The Park is habitat to numerous animals: some hundreds of Red Deer, Roe and Mouflon, dozens of Wild Boar and lots and lots of smaller animals.

The Franse Berg is in fact an elongated former active dune, some 20 metres high. The hill was formed by a growing dune when large parts of the Veluwe were still sand drifts. “Towering” 65 metres above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum (ANP), it is the highest point of De Hoge Veluwe National Park. The name ‘Franse berg’ probably survived from the time French troops used this as an observation post during the French occupation of the Netherlands (1792-1813). The Franse Berg is now planted with oak coppice to retain the sand. The Kröller-Müller crypt rests on the south side of the hill. The crypt looks out over the Pampelse and Deelense Zands but is closed to the public. 

Burial place

       

Franse Berg forms the boundary between the wooded landscape to the north and the open landscape towards the south. The hill protects the northern area from wind and drift sand. It was one of Helene Kröller-Müller’s favourite spots. She died in 1939 and lies buried here together with Anton Kröller (deceased in 1941). The couple started buying land in the Veluwe in 1906, eventually creating a large fenced estate.

                                   T O P

 

Zen and Gardening

'Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.'

Zen saying

Kyoto, Japan

Groups of skilled craftsmen called senzui kawaramono ('mountain, stream and riverbed people') were responsible for creating a new style of garden, known as karesansui ('dry mountain stream').
Heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism, groups of rocks represent mountains and waterfalls, and white sand is used to replace flowing water. This form of garden, not seen in any other part of the world, was probably influenced by Chinese ink-painted landscapes of barren mountains and dry riverbeds.

Lu Kongfeng 卢坤峰 (1934~)

Zen gardens are not to everyone's taste - the apparent random positioning of unhewn rocky outcrops, some covered in moss, and the linear shaping of gravel are austere to those used to a profusion of borders and colour and wide expanses of lawn.
Western gardening is so much about statement and flourishes and crammy empty spaces with some eye-catching arrangement.
Zen gardens are the opposite. They are about reducing the number of elements to a minimum and using the spaces between to create a harmonious experience. They are about soothing the senses rather than stimulating them.

 

 
Kyoto, Japan

The Yin-Yang Garden

Balance and harmony are the heart of the Zen garden, reflecting the Tao symbol of yin and yang: the two opposing forces of nature - male/female, outer/inner, darkness/lightness. The opposites are harmonious, however, because they are mutually interdependent. They balance and maintain harmony. The dark and light coloured halves are mirror images making up a whole. In each half there is a tiny circle containing the other half's colour. This symbolizes that one cannot exist without the other, that yin and yang are inseparable.

    
Chengdu, China

 
So it is in the garden - yin is represented by sand and gravel. Zen gardens are dry, so this takes the place of water, which is a 'soft' yin element. This is counterbalanced by the 'hard' yang elements of rock or clumps of bamboo.

Individual rock groupings are planted to create harmonious shapes such as triangles, though it may be very subtle. The rocks are also symbolic of the mountains where the monks went to meditate, so these rocks are not just positioned on top but rooted firmly below the ground level of the garden.

 

 
Koyasan, Japan                                   

                                   T O P