At A Glance
Originally commissioned in 1981 as part of the Fairmount Park Art Association’s (now the Association for Public Art) Form and Function program
Sol LeWitt uses the grid as a fundamental structure, and the configuration of parallel lines is basic to his work
The garden consists of flower plantings of four different colors in four equal rectangular areas, in rows of four directions
The Association for Public Art has a long-standing history of partnering with the institutions along the Parkway. In 2012 the Philadelphia Museum of Art along with OLIN architects and designers brought to life Sol LeWitt’s Lines in Four Directions in Flowers, 30 years after the Association (then the Fairmount Park Art Association) originally commissioned the work in 1981 as part of its Form and Function program. The garden was installed behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the William M. Reilly Memorial as the artist had intended and deinstalled in 2015.
From Form and Function: Proposals for Public Art for Philadelphia: “Sol LeWitt uses the grid as a fundamental structure, and the configuration of parallel lines is basic to his work. LeWitt proposed a garden which would consist ‘of flower plantings of four different colors (white, yellow, red and blue) in four equal rectangular areas, in rows of four directions (vertical, horizontal, diagonal left and right) framed by evergreen hedges of about 2’ in height. In the winter the rows of plants would retain their linear direction, in the summer the flowers would bloom and provide color. The type of plant, height, distance apart, and planting details would be under the direction of a botanist and the maintenance by a gardener.'”
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