The first Painted Garden exhibition was a collection of works I had put together as an exhibition celebrating Rosemary Verey’s garden at Barnsley, Gloucestershire, and was presented by Astley House Fine Art. His Majesty, The King (then HRH the Prince of Wales) kindly opened the exhibition in May 1994, which was also attended by Rosemary Verey at the Museum of Garden History, Lambeth, London, in support of the Museum.

The painted garden theme has continued to celebrate prominent gardens in Britain. Over the past thirty years, it has included various gardens in France, Italy and the USA, including The Painted Garden at Highgrove House, His Majesty’s Garden collection.

From the outset and subsequent Painted Garden collections, the emphasis has been on exploring and depicting the relationship of owners of gardens and society with nature by participating as co-creators through gardening and engagement with the land.

Each collection has sought to express the particular and unique narrative of the garden by interpreting the process initially as abstract thought, through vision, to the actualization of those intentions. Each garden can be realized as a manifestation of creative expression borne out of philosophical and spiritual perspectives.

The Painted Garden Highgrove is an interpretation of the gardens within the estate created by collective advisers along with His Majesty’s ideas, plans and underlying philosophical viewpoint of life and its relationship to the natural world. The creator of a garden, particularly over a long time of engagement, is an ever-evolving process and a personal journey resulting in a transient created space. Effectively, this collection is an internalization of the created spaces and their ambiance, which I responded to in new terms of reference and visual language.

The overall approach to compositional narrative portrays the philosophical and spiritual emphasis, wherein particular spaces within the gardens are painted as distinct themes by focusing on their uniqueness.

The Terrace Garden, Kitchen Garden, Lily Pool Garden and Carpet Garden have a common element in the form of water sources. In each case, the movement of water is a central dynamic. Water is presented as a slow, constant, quiet source, which can be seen as a spiritual symbol of constant replenishment to life. The peaceful sound and its constancy of flow affect a source of reassurance in life, giving power and energy.

In each of these garden designs, the layout radiates from the central element of a water source. This pattern represents a symbolic manifestation of the emanation from Divinity, the ‘Undisclosed One.’ It is similarly depicted in the Rose Window designs of the great Medieval Cathedrals of Europe and equally in the Eastern Faiths in the form of a Mandala, an abstract formulation.

The planet and its present and future state depend to a greater degree on whether human thought is constructive and sympathetic or destructive and dismissive of nature and our inextricable relationship with the earth.

In each garden, His Majesty the King expresses His alignment with nature through nature-related object metaphors rather than highly stylized forms of expression within the garden themes.

The experience of the gardens at Highgrove and, hence, the overall ambiance of the estate leaves one with a distinct sense that the creator of Highgrove’s gardens has a deep connection and holistic view of the natural world, along with its rhythms and sacred being.

– Charles Neal