Without the garden there would be no art

Art connoisseur Roland Doschka is convinced that nature and gardens have influenced artists throughout the ages. He, on the other hand, allowed himself to be inspired by the work of famous painters when creating his garden.

Prof. Doschka is a Romanicist, art expert, the curator of countless exhibitions, a specialist for the art of the 20th century, collector, author and publisher of many specialist books. His second great passion besides art is the garden. The 78 year-old can't say which of the two has played a longer role in his life. He had already begun with the planning of a green paradise in his Swabian home in the 1970s. To the present day, the grounds near Rottenburg on the Neckar have grown to five hectares, and in 2006 was the first German garden ever to be distinguished with the Europäischer Gartenkultur-Schöpfungspreis (European garden culture creation prize).

Art and the garden in dialogue

"Without the garden there would be no art", Doschka emphasises repeatedly and impressively in his lectures when he talks about the paintings of Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Paul Klee or Pablo Picasso. This is because art can only reflect what nature provides as an example. Many great painters had gardens in front of them while working and captured the light in them with the brush. Each of them developed their own style in this creative process, according to the art specialist.

Doschka is taking the reverse direction: he is so familiar with the painted nature and garden landscapes of art history that he uses them as a template and, with great passion, allows them to become reality as three-dimensional paintings in his garden. While Miro described himself as a gardening painter, Doschka is a "painting" gardener. His life's work in gardening is curated like an exhibition, and one discovers ever new garden images and spaces while strolling through it, which transform depending upon the light, weather and season. His dealings with art are expressed here: whether Cubism, with its geometric forms, which he realises in strict topiary elements, or Pointillism, which is reflected in wild, natural meadows … Nothing is left to chance here. On a daily basis, three gardeners make sure that every bloom and every stone is in its right place.

Doschka has shared his pleasure in this complete work of art for many years with the thousands of visitors, to whom he opens up the garden by appointment, and who he ideally guides through the grounds himself.

More information: graf-luckner.de/project/rottenburg