Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Following the five year restoration of the world's largest Victorian glasshouse, the Temperate House attracted thousands of visitors on a May Bank Holiday 2018. Gerard was among the firsts to admire the Temperate House in all its glory along with the Palm House constructed by iron-master Irish native Richard Turner, the same man behind the Curvilinear Range in the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin.
The timing was perfect, a bank holiday weekend lay ahead, the sun-warmed Kew Gardens were alive with colour and joviality. Gerard seized the opportunity to memorialise the occasion and as soon as he set up his easel and started sketching an audience gathered greatly interested in his work. The artist relished the experience of painting Kew's iconic structures en plein air and is looking forward to further inspirational summer days at the gardens to capture their spectacular beauty.
Gerard’s upcoming 'Inside Outside & Beyond' exhibition in the National Botanical Gardens of Ireland, which have been his favourite subject for three decades, will feature Kew's the Temperate House and the Palm House works alongside paintings of their Irish sisters.
After over 150 years since their construction the oil paintings and charcoals depicting Kew's Victorian glasshouses will be displayed side by side in Turner's homeland. We are sure he would approve!
Friday 22nd June - Sunday 15th July 2018
Exhibition open daily
Gallery Space, Visitor Centre
The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Glasnevin, Dublin 9
+ 353 (0)1 8040319
botanicgardens@opw.ie