The Royal Academy of Arts announced last month its 2016 programme of exhibitions, including Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. Running at the Academy from the 30th January to the 20th April, the exhibition will examine the role in which gardens played in the development of art.

By using the work of Monet as a starting point, this display of work will trace the many forms of gardens that were painted between the 1860’s and 1920’s, during a period of social change and innovation in the arts.

Although Monet is the artist most commonly associated as a painter of gardens, he was certainly not alone in his fascination with the horticultural world and this exhibition will display the work of other artists such as Renoir, Picasso and Manet who were also fascinated by gardens in their work.

For many artists, gardens gave them the idea and freedom to break new ground as well as to explore the ever changing world that surrounded them.

This new exhibition will feature 120 pieces of art that celebrates nature and some of the most instantly recognisable work that has been created in the history of art.

Highlights of the exhibition will include: a rich and varied collection of work by Monet, Renoir’s Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil as well as Kadinsky’s Murnau The Garden II. 

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse will provide an opportunity for visitors to look at gardens in a different light and perhaps appreciate the wonders of nature even more.

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse will open to the public on the 30th January 2016 until the 20th April 2016. Tickets for the exhibition are on sale now costing £17.60 (£16.00 without donation) and concessions are available.