{"id":969113,"date":"2026-05-18T16:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/969113\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:32:18","slug":"tate-britain-previews-new-garden-at-rhs-chelsea-flower-show-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/969113\/","title":{"rendered":"Tate Britain previews new garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visitors to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in west London can get a sneak preview of Tate Britain\u2019s new garden which will feature key sculptures from the collection.<\/p>\n

The Tate Britain Garden\u00a0offers \u201ca taster of the forthcoming Clore Garden at\u00a0Tate\u00a0Britain\u201d, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith and scheduled for completion in 2027. After the show, the garden will be transferred to\u00a0Tate\u00a0Britain on Millbank.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the RHS Chelsea garden is Bicentric Form, a 1949 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth that was the first work Tate acquired by the artist. \u201cHepworth was very progressive in showing her work in a garden context and we are using very bold textures and forms as a counterpoint to the dark, smooth stone of the sculpture.\u00a0I think she would approve,\u201d says Stuart-Smith in a statement.<\/p>\n

Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson tells The Art Newspaper that the \u201csculptures [featured in the final garden] will go from classic modern to contemporary; they will be [located] there for years and years. In each case, there will be this beautiful dialogue with planting. The whole garden will reframe the building.\u201d He says that the museum’s Millbank entrance will close shortly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviewing plant species that will be seen in the Clore Garden,\u00a0The\u00a0Tate\u00a0Britain Garden\u00a0showcases planting that thrives in central London\u2019s now virtually frost-free environment and rising temperatures, such as Mediterranean fig trees and foliage like\u00a0Schefflera shweliensis, native to the Eastern Himalayas,\u201d says a Tate statement. A wildlife pond also forms part of the design.<\/p>\n

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Installation of Barbara Hepworth\u2019s limestone sculpture, the first work from the national collection to be exhibited in a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/p>\n

\u00a9Tate Photography (Sonal Bakrania)<\/p>\n

Recycled elements are a prominent feature. Existing stone from the Millbank site has been cut and repurposed as paving while a central bench is cast from reused materials, including the paving from\u00a0Tate\u00a0Britain and locally sourced cockleshells from the Thames Estuary.<\/p>\n

Roland Rudd, the Tate\u2019s chair of trustees, told The Times<\/a>\u00a0last year that the new garden will be transformative. \u201cAt the moment, let\u2019s be honest, when you go to Tate Britain it is awful,\u201d Rudd said. \u201cYou have got these rows of bushes [at the front] and they look very old, they look manky. People tend to relieve themselves behind them.\u201d Farquharson says on the forthcoming changes: \u201cWe\u2019re absorbing the taxi rank but you\u2019ll still be able to be dropped off\u2026 the taxis will all move to the side. There will be a section of the garden in front of the steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new garden is\u00a0funded primarily by the Clore Duffield Foundation, the Julia Rausing Trust and Project Giving Back, the grant-giving charity that funds gardens for good causes. In the meantime, the museum will open Living Gardens,\u00a0a year-long free display from 15 June, that will bring together works inspired by horticulture, featuring artists such as Derek Jarman and Christine K\u00fchlenthal.<\/p>\n