Inauguration ceremony of Piet Oudolf's garden

Vandalorum's garden is created by the Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf (b. 1944). This is his first garden at a Nordic cultural institution. It includes trees, shrubs, meadow areas, and ponds, as well as a 3,500 m² perennial meadow that was planted in the spring of 2023. The perennial meadow contains about 26,000 plants of over 100 different species. The plants are chosen based on color, texture, and sculptural quality, to appeal throughout all four seasons, even after they have finished blooming.

Piet Oudolf has created gardens around the world, at places such as The High Line in New York, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, and the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. Oudolf is a pioneer of the movement that has been advocating alternatives to the decorative and strictly maintained gardens that were dominant since the 1980s. He and his like-minded peers draw inspiration from nature's vegetation and focus on perennials, grasses, and shrubs that have traditionally not been considered garden plants. Oudolf's strong visual expression is rooted in his deep plant knowledge, characterized by unique plant combinations, undulating forms, and constantly changing sightlines.

»I am very happy to have created this garden at Vandalorum, a garden that interacts with the beautiful nature surrounding the museum. A garden is not a painting that you look at but a dynamic process that is in constant change, and that you can continually return to.«

—Piet Oudolf

In collaboration with Deltavormgroep

Thanks to:

Hjalmar Wicander's fund

Bertil & Britt Svenssons foundation for lighting technology

Mats Skogsfors

Vandalorum's Partners: Hamrin, Liljedahl, Svenstig