The Millesgården
I should think of this as a Swedish garden. I went to see the sculpture, but it turns out to be about the garden experience. It’s the Millesgarden, the former home of Carl Milles, Sweden’s best modernist sculptor. It’s mostly bronzes, but which aren’t my favorite, but I loved it as a garden. The sculptures are sited wonderfully, and the fountains, trees, paving, walls, and sky all interact with the sculpture.
Milles has a couple of things he does. The most obvious is the way he puts sculptures up on ridiculously high pedestals to show them against the sky. They are a little prone to butt-shots and views up a tunic or dress, but it works. Sweden has beautiful skies, a lot of bright white clouds against deep royal blue, and it gives the sculptures a dynamic backdrop.
He also does nice fountains. I like how splitting this one into two sections leads people to stand between the sections and become like sculptures as well, their reflections on the water alongside the reflection of Poseidon.
And then the other thing he does nicely is work with scale and space. The garden’s sculptures come in virtually every size, but they are always sited in a space to feel as if they’re the proper scale. That’s harder than it sounds, and it makes for a garden that’s fun to wander.
My favorite garden in Sweden.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2024 at 5:07 pm and is filed under sculpture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
