Enfilade

Opening in May at Versailles:

Gardens of Enlightenment, 1750–1800 / Jardins des Lumières, 1750–1800

Grand Trianon and English Garden of the Petit Trianon, Château de Versailles, 5 May — 27 September 2026

Curated by Elisabeth Maisonnier

Louis Belanger, The Borders of the Bagatelle Pavilion, 1785, gouache on vellum (Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN).

In spring 2026, Gardens of Enlightenment (1750–1800) will open, bringing together nearly 150 works—paintings, drawings, furniture, architectural projects and costumes—to reveal the originality and diversity of landscaped gardens designed in the second half of the eighteenth century. Inspired by a model that emerged in Great Britain in the 1730s, this new style freed itself from the rules of the French formal garden, breaking with symmetry and geometric layouts in favour of irregularity, the picturesque, and a poetic evocation of nature. From the middle of the century onwards, this aesthetic spread across northern Europe in a wave of Anglomania that combined eccentric garden follies, philosophical reverie, a taste for exoticism and the search for an intimate refuge.

The exhibition explores its many sources—from Antiquity to China—as well as the new ways of life it accompanied, oscillating between rural pleasures, festivities, and contemplation. The exhibition route will engage in close dialogue with the historic gardens of the Trianon estate, offering a new perspective on the elements of its English garden: the Belvedere, the Temple of Love, and the Queen’s Hamlet.

Jardins des Lumières, 1750–1800 is curated by Elisabeth Maisonnier, Chief Curator of Heritage, Château de Versailles.