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Art Nouveau gardens

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, eclecticism was replaced by an exquisite artistic style that proclaimed the cult of smooth flowing lines, harmonious asymmetry and sophisticated color combinations. This style, called Art Nouveau, retains its amazing freshness and attractiveness even a century after its appearance on the historical stage. The perception of the world and the artistic language of modernity are very close to modern people. The interest in Art Nouveau gardens, a brilliant but little-known page in the history of garden art, is no coincidence.

In principle, the whole variety of garden styles is actually limited to two main ones - regular and landscape. Regular gardens are based on regular geometric shapes and line symmetry. This is an artificial environment created by man and completely subordinated to his whims and will.

Landscape gardens, unlike regular ones, strive to capture the beauty of the surrounding nature, to merge with it into a single whole. This is nature "ennobled" by the human hand. Moreover, sometimes the stylization of a landscape garden to resemble a natural landscape is so skillful that it is even difficult to notice it.

Art Nouveau features in landscape style

The gardens of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are, in fact, landscape-style gardens. The soft and smooth outlines of relief forms and lines of paths inherent in Art Nouveau gardens, the absence of right angles and regular geometric shapes, the asymmetry of flower beds, reservoirs and plant groups, color and texture contrasts of plants - all these are features of the landscape style. But in Art Nouveau gardens, they receive their special embodiment under the influence of the artistic spirit of the era. Forged garden benches, lanterns, fences, as well as the railings of stairs in houses and bars on the windows, are intertwining shoots of vines, in which the stems and flowers of daffodils, irises and lilies are entangled. The lines of paths, lawns and bodies of water are drawn with amazing grace, they are distinguished by the fluid smoothness of the curves. There are few plants in the groups, and always one of them "solo", and the rest make up a spectacular "retinue". In the gardens in the Art Nouveau style, one can feel a fascination with the East: here you can find peacocks walking along the paths, flower beds with irises so beloved in Japan, pagoda pavilions.

Floral symbols of Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau gardens have their own favorite plant motifs. Trees with a weeping and umbrella-shaped crown - grafted forms of willow, mountain ash, birch - create a special melancholy mood in the garden, echoed by the murmur of the stream and the quiet splash of water under the oar of a boat, slowly dissecting the surface of a half-overgrown pond. Water lilies - lilies with long stems rising from dark pools - are one of the most beloved garden motifs of Art Nouveau. Other favorite flowers in this style of gardens are iris, peony, lily, daffodil. All of them are not just beautiful, but exquisitely graceful, with a beautiful line of the flower contour.

The favorite form of a flower garden in a Art Nouveau garden is a long, fancy-shaped mixborder, wriggling like a snake between the bright green of the lawn and the dark green background of shrubs. Climbing and creeping plants are also popular in such a garden - girlish grapes, clematis, hops, bindweed, sweet peas, morning glory, and even pumpkin and zucchini. In general, there are usually few fruit and vegetable plants in Art Nouveau gardens, because these are, first of all, graceful gardens designed for refined aesthetic experiences.

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