The opening of the High Line in New York City seems like it was just yesterday. Located along the West Side of Manhattan, the botanical revival of this derelict rail line into a new public park was brought about by gardener Piet Oudolf, who placed an intricate network of plant beds throughout an elevated, hollowed structure. Oudolf’s renderings within this contrived, and somewhat artificial landscape, transformed a vacant rusty steel frame into a long stretch of green that extends along New York City’s 10th Avenue, from Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street.
Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, directed by Thomas Piper, travels to Oudolf’s home in the Netherlands where gardens are an art form. Through many interviews while traversing different types of landscapes in the United States, England and the Netherlands, Five Seasons reveals Oudolf as an artist whose color palette consists of plants that grow, bloom and fade at alternating times throughout each year.
Although the success of the High Line comes up frequently throughout the film, with spoken reflections by the artist and praise by curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, this particular detailed representation of Oudolf’s working process, his studio, garden and off-site research methods, lead up to Hauser & Wirth’s plans for Durslade — a set of remote farm houses, located outside of London, where the gallery…
