The Rubens Garden

Discover the Enchanting Garden of Rubens

The book presents archival research on the reconstructed Rubens Garden in Antwerp, highlighting its historical context, main plants, and artistic connections to Rubens and his contemporaries. The publication coincides with the opening of the newly created Rubens Garden at the Rubens House in Antwerp in August 2024.

The garden of the Rubens House is a hidden gem in the heart of Antwerp. This is the place where the world-famous artist lived with his family and entourage and could relax. The garden has been reconstructed and, thanks to advice from fashion designer Dries Van Noten, provides year-round colour, season after season. The design hearkens back to plant species from Rubens’ time, including columbine, marigolds and citrus plants.

This book presents the results of years of archive research that went into the reconstruction of The Rubens Garden, describes the historical context and provides an overview of the main flowers and plants and their story. With beautiful details from floral still lifes and other works of Rubens and his contemporaries, this richly illustrated book reveals the beauty of the unique garden of the Rubens House in Antwerp. In addition, it offers a glimpse of little-known historical material about this magical garden and city gardens in Antwerp in the time of Rubens.