The garden surrounding the Fondation Cartier is indissociable from Jean Nouvel’s building and seems to be a natural extension of it. Commissioned from the artist Lothar Baumgarten, it is neither an English-style landscaped garden, nor a formal French jardin, nor a sculpture garden. Its name, Theatrum Botanicum, refers to the inventories of medicinal plants and herbs kept by medieval monks. Like medieval gardens it is enclosed, but to keep up with its modern setting it is screened off from the boulevard Raspail by a wall of glass.
Photo © Lothar Baumgarten / Adagp, Paris, 2011
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261, Bvd Raspail, Paris
The Building