May 2024
The Boodles NG200 Garden is inspired by masterpieces within the National Gallery to mark its Bicentenary year.
This year Boodles is delighted that Catherine MacDonald, is designing ‘The Boodles NG200 Garden’ at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with the garden being a celebration of the Gallery’s Bicentenary. Catherine MacDonald is a British landscape designer, who leads the design studio at Landform Consultants Ltd, overseeing all design schemes for the company.
Catherine MacDonald drew inspiration from the paintings she viewed during many visits to the National Gallery. The creative vision for the design of the garden draws from artistic elements, embracing colours, textures and ‘hidden details’ in paintings by the artists including, Monet, Gallen, Klimt, Seurat, and Canaletto.
What makes this year’s garden particularly special is the tie-in with Boodles’ latest high jewellery offering, this year named ‘The Boodles National Gallery Collection’. The collection is also inspired by paintings in the Gallery, which weaves the narrative together. The pieces will be displayed for the first time at Chelsea Flower Show and visitors will be able to see the collection alongside the garden on the Boodles tradestand. Boodles designers have created three unique rings that have been designed in celebration of “The Boodles NG200 Garden” this year, primarily inspired by ‘The Water-Lily Pond’ by Claude Monet. Rebecca Hawkins, Director of Design at Boodles and Catherine Macdonald worked closely to tie the jewellery collection and garden together. The colours within the painting are the colours that Catherine chose in her planting scheme so the rings relate directly to the garden.
“ This Chelsea Flower Show we are working with the wonderful garden designer Catherine MacDonald and supporting the National Gallery in celebrating their bicentenary year with a Sanctuary Garden and a very special new jewellery collection which can be seen on our trade stand.”
James Amos, Managing Director at Boodles
Similarly to the ‘Play of Light’ subcollection within the Boodles National Gallery Collection, Monetʼs ʻThe Water-Lily Pondʼ served as the cornerstone of the garden’s design ethos, infusing the garden with the verdant hues of its lush foliage. The paintingʼs dominant, basal ʻgreenʼ became the guiding principle for the garden’s palette, from the paving stones to the towering trees and intricate plantings. The structural elements of MacDonaldʼs garden were a symphony of inspiration from various works. Canalettoʼs ʻLondon: Interior of the Rotunda at Ranelaghʼ sparked ideas for arches and structures, playing with perspective to create a sense of grandeur, as with the Perspective collection.
Meanwhile, the delicate detailing in Klimtʼs ʻPortrait of Hermine Galliaʼ and the evocative brushstrokes of Seurat and Monet paintings found their way into the intricate patterns of the gardenʼs arches and paving. These elements of the garden play into the Brushstrokes collection, which was inspired by Cezanne’s loose, open use of oil paint which Boodles designers used to create the zig-zag elements of the pieces.
Interestingly, the Rotunda at Ranelagh, was situated in Chelsea, just metres away from our Chelsea Flower Show Garden, and the work was painted by Canaletto while he was living in England for a brief period. For the planting scheme, MacDonald looked to Turnerʼs ʻThe Fighting Temeraireʼ and Monetʼs ʻWater-Lilies, Setting Sunʼ for guidance on colour. The fiery hues of yellow, orange, and rust dancing alongside the soft pinks and radiant oranges, were chosen to echo the vibrant blooms depicted in these paintings.
Water features cascade through the garden, inspired by the tranquil scenes of Gallen-Kallelaʼs ʻLake Keiteleʼ and the reflective waters in Monet’s ʻThe Museum at Le Havreʼ. These elements add a dynamic layer of serenity to the space and draw similarities to the ‘Play of Light’ marquise diamond earrings.
