A plot of land, a relaxing retreat, a formal landscape, a place of work: gardens carry a range of associations for individuals, communities, and cultures alike. From the ancient Mediterranean, Renaissance Europe, Edo period Japan, and Qing dynasty China to today, Gardens and Imagination considers how gardens have remained a source of artistic inspiration for millennia.

Drawn exclusively from the holdings of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this lush volume features both beloved favorites and surprising masterpieces across a range of media, including works by Ansel Adams, Gohar Dashti, Maria Richards Oakey Dewing, Jim Dine, Claudio Eshun, Jay Lynn Gomez, Anthony Green, Jean-François Millet, Claude Monet, William Morris, Giovanni di Paolo, Hilary Pecis, Yves Saint Laurent, John Singer Sargent, Yuan Yao, and many more. Thematic essays recount the human impulse to influence, master, and celebrate the natural world through cultivation, care, and labor—all while exploring how countless artists have translated this phenomenon into their own visual aesthetics.