Franz West
02 Sep - 02 Nov 2009
FRANZ WEST
"The Garden of Earthly Delights"
Privy Garden, Lower Belvedere
2 September to 2 November 2009
In the early eighteenth century, Prince Eugene of Savoy had the Belvedere’s Chamber Gardens designed as his privy garden. Situated alongside the Orangery’s south front, adjacent to the military commander’s residential wing, the Chamber Gardens, with their magnificent Baroque layout, represent a gem within the Belvedere Gardens, showing the warlord’s love for gardening: the ground level’s variegated design, garden ponds, pergolas, and pavilions met his wish for intimacy and feudal splendour. After their revitalization in the 1990s carried out by the Federal Gardens Administration, the Privy Gardens are in bloom once again, thanks to the lavish planting of spring and summer flowers.
Following the installation of Dan Graham’s glass pavilion in front of the Orangery in the spring of 2007, Franz West, an outstanding personality on the international art scene, contributes his work In the Garden of Earthly Delights to the Privy Gardens sculpture programme, launched as early as 1929 by the Belvedere’s Modern Art Gallery.
In his work, West permanently varies and reinterprets the concept of environment, thus fathoming the ever-changing spatial and thematic functions of sculptures from ever-new perspectives. His associative universe combines psychoanalytical and philosophical thought with a crossover between art and design. West’s sculptural arrangement for the Privy Gardens takes into account both their floral exuberance and axial structure.
"The Garden of Earthly Delights"
Privy Garden, Lower Belvedere
2 September to 2 November 2009
In the early eighteenth century, Prince Eugene of Savoy had the Belvedere’s Chamber Gardens designed as his privy garden. Situated alongside the Orangery’s south front, adjacent to the military commander’s residential wing, the Chamber Gardens, with their magnificent Baroque layout, represent a gem within the Belvedere Gardens, showing the warlord’s love for gardening: the ground level’s variegated design, garden ponds, pergolas, and pavilions met his wish for intimacy and feudal splendour. After their revitalization in the 1990s carried out by the Federal Gardens Administration, the Privy Gardens are in bloom once again, thanks to the lavish planting of spring and summer flowers.
Following the installation of Dan Graham’s glass pavilion in front of the Orangery in the spring of 2007, Franz West, an outstanding personality on the international art scene, contributes his work In the Garden of Earthly Delights to the Privy Gardens sculpture programme, launched as early as 1929 by the Belvedere’s Modern Art Gallery.
In his work, West permanently varies and reinterprets the concept of environment, thus fathoming the ever-changing spatial and thematic functions of sculptures from ever-new perspectives. His associative universe combines psychoanalytical and philosophical thought with a crossover between art and design. West’s sculptural arrangement for the Privy Gardens takes into account both their floral exuberance and axial structure.