Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens in Florence are one of the first and most spectacular examples of so-called Italian gardens. Roman Nyman was in Italy on several occasions. He travelled once again to Southern Europe, including Italy, in the 1920s to treat his health. Although Italian gardens are known for their symmetry and strict geometry, which should establish order in wild nature, Nyman has instead tried to find mysteriousness in the Boboli Gardens and mysticism that nature has as if by chance generated. Nyman structures the painting’s composition in such a way that a tunnel is created at the heart of the picture, decoratively framed by tree branches. Romantic light shines through the tree branches here and there, and the tree trunks twist in an art nouveau way. As an artist who worked in the theatre, Roman Nyman has built up a decoration here in this painting as well, the aim of which is to provide the viewer with a striking spectacle and with food for the imagination.

This work was displayed at the exhibition held by the Eesti Kujutavate Kunstnikkude Keskühing [Central Association of Estonian Figurative Artists] in the autumn of 1925. It is reproduced on page 34 of the exhibition catalogue.