Gardens: The Bourgeoisie on Display

In Paris, around the 19th century, gardens were constructed for public use in an effort to create escapes in the countryside within Paris. There were three distinct types of gardens; the private gardens such as Jardin des Versailles, the public gardens of the bourgeois, such as Jardin du Luxembourg, and the commercial gardens such as Tivoli and Beaujon.

Members of the bourgeois frequented Paris' many gardens in an effort to display their wealth and their "savoir faire." Through proper attire and etiquette the bourgeoisie were able to increase their public image as well as socialize with other auspicoius members of society.

The nobility also utilized gardens to display their wealth. A noble could gain status by building large and interesting gardens on his property. The size and the various elements of the garden, such as aviaries, menageries, and fountains were all components of a garden that could speak of a noble's status.

In addition to the social benefits of gardens, doctors began to realize and praise the health benefits of daily strolls in the fresh air. Compared to the lives of the working classes who worked and lived in dirty, cramped quarters, the freedom to spend an afternoon walking in a Parisian garden was a decidedly bourgeois and aristocratic pastime.

 

A recent picture of the garden at Vaux le Vicomte

 

"There are those who ask nothing more; living beings who, having the blue sky, say: 'It is enough!' Dreamers absorbed in marvel, drawing from idolatry of nature an indifference to good and evil, contemplators of the cosmos radiantly diverted from man, who do not understand how anybody can busy himself with the hunger of these, with the thirst of those, with the nakedness of the poor in winter...In the indifference of these thinkers, according to some, lies a superior philosophy. So be it; but in this superiority there is some infirmity...Who knows that the sun is not blind?" - Les Miserables, Vol V, Book I

 

 

A recent picture of the Temple of Love at Versailles

 

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