Curator's Tour (English)

On Saturday, May 10 and May 24, we are organizing a Curator's Tour through the exhibition “Mien Ruys and the Modern Garden!”

Mien Ruys (1904-1999) is one of the best-known Dutch garden architects of the twentieth century. Her work, in which she combined a completely new, sleek design language with lush plants, was revolutionary in Dutch and international landscape architecture. She was one of the first designers to focus primarily on using perennials in the garden, using her testing grounds to discover and apply new plants.

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The exhibition focuses on the gardens in Amsterdam, and in particular on the post-war expansion areas that were built from the 1950s. These AUP (General Expansion Plan) areas were designed according to the principles of the New Building, including architectural groups such as The 8 and Opbouw took the lead. Mien Ruys shared the modernist views of these architects and soon joined the group. This was the start of many collaborations with architects such as Merkelbach, Van Eesteren and Bonnema.

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Stop by and hear all the ins and outs about the Netherlands' most influential landscape designer. Discover which well-known architects Ruys worked with, how she came up with innovative ideas and how she thereby democratized the garden for the entire Dutch society.

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You can also combine the curator's tour with the bike ride 'Mien Ruys in Nieuw-West: A garden for everyone' at 1:30 p.m., where you'll cycle past Mien Ruys' heritage in the neighborhood. Pre-purchase a ticket via the website.

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The tour on May 10th is in Dutch and the tour on May 24th in English. Reserve a spot at the bottom of the page for free.