Image: Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles will present 'Gardens of the Enlightenment, 1750-1800' at the Grand Trianon from 5 May to 27 September 2026. The exhibition is billed as a survey of 18th-century landscape gardens, gathering almost 160 works across paintings, drawings, furniture, architectural plans and costumes, and tracing the rise of a new approach to landscape that moved away from the geometry of the French formal garden.
According to Versailles, the exhibition will focus on the emergence of the landscape garden, also described as the pleasure garden or picturesque garden, a fashion that developed in England in the 1730s. Its displays are set to emphasize irregularity, fantasy and a philosophical evocation of nature, with designs that appear spontaneous but were carefully orchestrated through terrain, watercourses, grottoes and follies. The institution says the show will also address the influence of references to Antiquity, the East and distant civilisations in shaping the style of these gardens.
The presentation draws closely on the gardens commissioned by Marie-Antoinette at the Petit Trianon, and Versailles says it will offer a rereading of sites visitors can still explore on the estate, including the Belvedere, the Temple of Love and the Queen’s Hamlet. The estate of Trianon is described in the exhibition text as a living testimony to 18th-century English garden design, preserving the key features of the landscape garden and its rustic, poetic character.
The exhibition is structured around several themes. One section looks at gardens as reflections of Enlightenment thought and of a new relationship with nature, while another turns to the private world of these cultivated spaces at the end of the Ancien Régime, including changes in dress, furniture and accessories suited to outdoor life. A final section examines gardens as settings for festivities, illuminations and performances, where temporary spectacles created a sense of wonder and illusion.
Among the works highlighted on the page are four paintings by Hubert Robert on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, used to recreate the atmosphere of the bathroom at the château de Bagatelle. Versailles also notes the special reunification of Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s 'The Fête at Saint-Cloud' with two related paintings from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, presented together for the first time in this context. Other objects cited include a bamboo table for the Chanteloup pagoda, a grotto concretion stool from the Bowes Museum collection and chairs made for the Shell Cottage at Rambouillet.
The exhibition is curated by Elisabeth Maisonnier, chief heritage curator at the National Museum of the Châteaux of Versailles and Trianon, in special partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It has also received support from Dior and Little Greene. Versailles says the show will be accessible with the Passport and the Estate of Trianon Ticket.
The site will also make the Perfumer’s Garden freely accessible for the duration of the exhibition, with self-guided visits available every weekend from 9 May to 27 September, from 12 pm to 6:30 pm, excluding Saturday 13 June.
