Ulf Nordfjell at Millesgården

Ulf Nordfjell's vegetative spheres built with pratia plants at the main terrace of Millesgården at Lidingö near Stockholm.

Since last year, Ulf Nordfjell, a Swedish landscape architect maybe most know for winning the "Best in Show" award at Chelsea in 2009, has been invited for a long-time collaboration with the the gardens at Millesgården, home and atelier of the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles and his Austrian wife Olga who lived there during the first half of the 20th century.

Flowerbed inspired by Josef Frank's fabric called Aralia; detail with a Ricinus plant.

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During this second year into Ulf's work with Millesgården, he co-operated with two colleagues to build an exhibition called "Between Sky and Sea", to create interest and breathe some new life to the almost century-old gardens there. Initially, I wondered how Ulf's Nordic, poetically modern style would go together with the quite pompous, Mediterranean influenced style of the gardens, but he had combined both quite elegantly, building huge spheres covered with delicate little blue star creepers, and filling the flower borders with delectable flower combinations.
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"Fuchsias are the most feminine of plants" according to Ulf. He placed them in classic terracotta pots at Olga's terrace.

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Mediterranean notes were provided by rows of laurels, olives, fuchsias and lemons planted in classic terracotta pots on the terraces, and they seemed to thrive and complement their monumental but historically sensitive surroundings quite naturally. It still felt like Ulf's work at Millesgården was in its early stages, and I am curious to see how it develops over the coming years.

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Lemons in terracotta pots in front of one of the ateliers.

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Millesgården is situated on Lidingö, an island just outside Stockholm city center. Carl Milles, who had initially studied cabinet making and carpentry before leaving for Paris and studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, became a hugely successful sculptor with numerous commissions both in Sweden and internationally. Between 1931 and 1950, Carl was professor at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, USA, and delivered at the same time several public and private commissions at both sides of the Atlantic. Millesgården is a monument for his life's work where everything is on a grand scale, from the buildings incorporating Carl's ateliers to the stone terraces and replicas of his sculptures.

In the garden with Karin Larsson

Karin by the shore, watercolour by Carl Larsson; she seems to be contemplating the handsome lilies, almost past their prime.

Is there any thing more essentially "Swedish" than Carl Larsson's paintings and drawings? In Sweden and maybe even in the rest of Scandinavia, we are so familiar with his art from the turn of the previous century, that we almost don't even think about it; there it is, as part of the cultural and visual landscape, seducing the eyes with its beautifully curved Art Nouveau lines and harmonious colours. It is easy to forget that Carl's paintings depicted surroundings that were quite avant garde for their time and that they really don't represent a typical Swedish home from the turn of the previous century.

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Karin in the atelier, watercolour by Carl Larsson.

This year, it is 150 years since the birth of Karin Larsson, Carl Larsson's wife. She was an trained artist and had met Carl while painting in France. They married in 1883 and after their first child (of eight in total) was born in 1884, Karin put her paintbrushes aside, giving her full attention to her home and family. In 1888 the family moved to Lilla Hyttnäs in the village of Sundborn in Dalarna, about 230 km North-East from Stockholm. Their house with its gardens became the center of Karin's creativity, and she filled her home with colourful embroideries, weavings and practical furniture of her own design. In addition, she loved her garden and decorated her home with exotic plants and artistic flower arrangements.

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Flowers on the windowsill. From the book "A Home" (26 watercolours in total). Plants include pelargoniums, clivia, oleander, ivy and Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera).

Model with postcards, watercolour 1906. Note the beautiful springtime flower arrangement with soft pink tulips and willow branches.

Although often thought as quintessentially Swedish in their style, both Carl and Karin were very much inspired by John Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts movement founded by William Morris, as they subscribed to The Studio, a magazine that spread these ideas and aesthetics. Just like many of their contemporaries, they admired Japanese art, which was made accessible during this period through prints. In Carl Larsson's paintings, we are actually looking at Karin's designs through Carl's skillful brushwork. It is interesting to see, how the influences above lead to so different results; Karin produced abstracted, strong and quite "pre-modern" designs, often with vegetative motifs for textiles and furniture, while Carl executed his paintings in a highly ornate, intricate but airy style. The only area where Karin's style reminds of Carl's is in her delicate flower arrangements, like Dalecarelian origami combining both wild and garden flowers. Still, their combined contributions created a perfectly balanced and harmonious whole.

Lisbeth reading, watercolour 1904. Note the blooming Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera).

Brita at the piano (1908); flower arrangements by Karin are almost always present in Carl Larsson's paintings.

Letter-writing (1912); what a lovely and practical green flower shelf designed by Karin Larsson.

At the time when Karin and Carl Larsson were active, a new, quite well-off middle class had developed as a result of industrialism during the 19th century. During this period, many of these well-off (but not necessarily rich) people fled from the the crowded and filthy cities to the undisturbed nature; many artists, as writers Selma Lagerlöf and Ellen Key, painter Anders Zorn, and Karin and Carl, are good examples. Even whole residential areas, like Djursholm and Saltsjöbaden outside Stockholm, were built to provide healthy and beautiful surrounding to families that could afford them. The garden fashions in Sweden underwent a considerable change, as the needs of these people were not just growing plants for food, but to spend time and entertain in their gardens. Garden became a place to relax, to eat, to work and to play; it needed to have places to sit and large trees to provide shade when the sun became too strong. The idea of "a wild garden", promoted in England by William Robinson, took ground in Sweden during this time; flowers were allowed to grow freely in meadow-like beds, even if more structured borders were typical around the house. Karin had also a large kitchen garden; in France she had seen and tasted vegetables not usually grown in Sweden, and included these into her garden and greenhouses. Some of these were asparagus, tomatoes, different kinds of lettuce, black radish, rhubarb, chervil, sorrel, strawberries and many more. Karin also grew a large variety of Mediterranean plants like pelargoniums, myrtle, nerium oleander, agapanthus and camellia, all pictured in full bloom in Carl's paintings.

The Bridge (1912); with beautiful icelandic poppies flowering in the front.

Harvesting time in the kitchen garden; Shelling peas (1908). Note the handsomely blooming Echinopsis in the background.

It was actually Karin who gave Carl the idea of picture their home and gardens in his paintings. Books and reprints about their home were produced in large editions, and the original aquarelles were presented at the Stockholm exhibition in 1897; very few homes have had such a huge publicity. Karin's ideas on interior design, colours and gardens were trendsetting at the time and continue even today to inspire people all over the world. There has been many exhibitions of the Larssons' work, the most well known of which might be the one arranged by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1997. This spring and summer, Sofiero Palace and Gardens in Helsingborg in Southern Sweden are celebrating Karin as an artist, craftswoman and expert gardener with an exhibition called "On the Sunny Side at Sofiero" (30 May - 27 September 2009). It will be interesting to see Karin herself in focus at last, and get a closer look at her world and work.

More about Carl and Karin Larsson: Carl Larsson gården Sundborn.

Exhibition "On the Sunny Side at Sofiero".

A vibrant feast for the eyes and mind

"Seeing that full moon, heralder of the white night lilies... Krishna played his flute softly, capturing the hearts of the beautiful-eyed women..." Detail from the Krishna Lila, ca. 1765.

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After all sad events lately, I just felt giving a small treat for myself. Little did I guess that my choice of a treat, visiting the "Garden and Cosmos: Royal Paintings of Jodhpur" exhibition at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, would be such a feast for my eyes and mind. 60 beautiful and unusual paintings, painstakingly painted in opaque watercolours and gold with fine brushes made of squirrel's tail hair, from the royal ateliers of the kingdom of Jodhpur-Marwar, in what now is Northwest India.

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Detail from Maharaja Bakhat Singh Enjoying the Gardens at Nagaur, 1737.

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The paintings, that have never seen before in the west, display not only scenes of luxurious life in the palaces and their gardens, but also include a mystical series created for a 19th-century ruler who turned over political power to an ascetic sect. As a short introduction to the exhibition tells, "the paintings reveal the emergence of a delightful and sensuous garden aesthetic in the 18th century, as well as a dramatic shift in visual consciousness in the early 19th century, when an amazing series of large images exploring esoteric yoga philosophy, unprecedented in Indian art, led to a sublimely minimal aesthetic." Reading all the explanations and texts on the exhibition walls made me reflect over my shallow knowledge about the highstanding, old culture of India with its different regions and religions, and I truly felt my own shortcoming in this area (I browsed the extensive and well-illustrated, 325-page catalogue, but decided that $40 was a bit too much to invest just now). But still, the refined and luxurious paintings talked their own language, that I can deeply admire.

Detail from Ram and Lakshman Wait Out the Monsoon, from the Tulsidas Ramayana, ca. 1775. K

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As a garden person, I really enjoyed the details of the gardens that these paintings show; most of the paintings are quite large, about 1m (3-4ft) wide and high, so the amount of work that has gone to painting them is incredible. Inside large walls there are geometrical flower beds and water rills with fountains. Outside the palaces are gardens with fruit trees with different kinds of colourful birds and different kinds of animals; large ponds are filled with with ducks and fish. Everything is painted in amazing detail, one can see the feathers of the birds and individual leaves and flowers of the plants, as the gardens and the surrounding landscape are depicted as a pleasure ground for the maharajahs and the gods. Naturally, they also are a symbol for the status, power and refinement or the maharajahs and their courts.

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If I have something to wish, I just would have hoped for more detailed information about the gardens and their contents; What were the main elements of these gardens, and what were their origins and meanings? Could any plans of them have been exhibited, as many or the paintings depict real gardens? What are the plants and flowers in them and what do they symbolize? In some paintings there are vegetables and flowers used as offerings; which plants are they and what were their meanings? I know that some of this probably is considered "too horticultural" for an art exhibition, but I still think that many visitors would very much enjoy such information. Maybe including botanical/horticultural and garden history expertise in future exhibitions, when garden related art is included, would be an interesting idea?

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"Singing loudly to himself, (Krishna), wearing a garland of flowers, frolicked in the forest...", detail from the Krishna Lila, ca. 1765.

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These paintings were created to be shown one at a time for the maharajah(s) lying down on soft pillows. Trying to take in all 60 of them at one time gives a totally different experience, and the royal painters surely would not have thought this was a suitable way to enjoy their art. Reluctantly leaving the exhibition, I felt almost drunk by the splendour and colour, and thankful for having experienced this great, but small glimpse of the old Hindu culture of Jodhpur-Marwar in India.

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The "Garden and Cosmos" exhibition contains a room full of beautiful photos of the Mehrangarh Fort and its surroundings appearing in the paintings, giving an excellent opportunity to compare the view and perspective of the painters to the reality. The Mehrangarh Fort is one of India's most important historical monuments and draws more than half a million visitors annually. There are many interesting gardens to visit around this area, and I truly hope, that I some day will be able to enjoy them in person...

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Probably totally illegally, I scanned in some postcards of the paintings. Some of them are shown on-line at SAAM web site; if you zoom in you can catch some of the very fine details of the paintings.
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