The Garden We Do Not See

Annegret Kellner

09.10.2026 ------> 19.12.2026

The Garden We Do Not See, by Annegret Kellner, explores the distance between nature and the ways in which we choose to represent, organise and understand it.

In the series Picture Pigment and Deep Doodles, the artist draws on seventeenth-century floral still lifes — images created to celebrate the beauty, abundance and delicacy of the plant world — and intervenes precisely in what occupies their centre: the flowers.

The title of this exhibition resonates with the poetry of Fernando Pessoa, particularly Alberto Caeiro and his refusal to seek in nature a meaning beyond what it is. A tree or a flower does not need to be interpreted in order to exist. They stand before us, whole and autonomous, prior to any meaning we may wish to attribute to them.

The Garden We Do Not See invites us to look again, at what remains invisible, but also at what lies beyond the reach of our gaze. Perhaps the limitation does not, after all, lie within the garden.

German artist Annegret Kellner (*1979), who currently lives between Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Estoi, Portugal, is best known for her photographic and sculptural works, which explore the subtle torment of domesticated plants. Her provocative methods evoke both conflict and comfort.

Galleries such as Galerie Fons Welters in Amsterdam and Galerie Helder in The Hague, as well as independent art spaces such as Nieuwe Vide in Haarlem and Kunstverein Diepenheim, have exhibited her work. Her works are also held in collections including the Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, the KPMG Art Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.

Kellner's work has been discussed by platforms such as Metropolis M, Trendbeheer and We Like Art.