Here is another enjoyable stroll around a major exhibition, with the now-familiar mixture of curatorial insights and detailed context, put together with well-practised ease by director David Bickerstaff. The exhibition itself is perhaps rather obviously aimed at the Alan Titchmarsh generation, with its double-populist conflation of gardening and impressionism, but there’s a lot of interesting material here on the history of horticulture and its parallel with late-19th century developments in painting. Monet, and his water garden at Giverny, is somewhat inevitably the main focus; other artists don’t get much of a look-in, though there are short sections on Matisse, Max Liebermann and Joaquín Sorolla. Still, this is a thoroughly pleasant feast for the eyes.
