Four Seasons

For the first ever installation of art in the gardens, Philip Haas’s sculptures bring a monumental interpretation of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s famous botanical paintings to Hillwood this fall.

The lush foliage, colorful blooms, and vegetation native to each of the seasons are spectacularly transformed into four larger than life, three-dimensional portrait busts for the special exhibition Four Seasons, on view at Hillwood.Contemporary American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas’s fifteen-foot high fiberglass sculptures are inspired by the series, The Seasons, by Italian Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593). This unusual series represents each season through the depiction of a portrait rendered in botanical materials such as flowers, fruits, vegetables, and branches. Haas’s re-creations transform these intriguing works, enlarging the scale, altering the materials, and adding dimensionality to shed a contemporary perspective on the popular paintings. 

The Four Seasons represents the third contemporary art exhibition at Hillwood, following the notable presentations of works by Eva Zeisel in 2005 and Isabelle de Borchgrave in 2012. It is the first time Hillwood has presented an installation of art in the gardens.

Exhibition overview from museum website