At the heart of the invention of the modern garden: the Mediterranean

The coastal landscapes of the Mediterranean, with their low population density, only evolved slowly from Roman colonisation to the onset of tourism. Since the early 19th century up until the present day, new social groups have become rooted in these areas, thus making them the site of successive inventions. Following the introduction of different forms of transport (and especially the railway), ornamental horticulture and the arrival of the elite from the north of Europe to France’s south coast in the 19th century, the Riviera was invented, the landscape of the Cote d’Azur and its exotic gardens beside the sea. The concept of the modern garden, an invention pioneered by the author Ferdinand Bac, came into being in the early 20th century, as the writer took his inspiration from his trips around the Mediterranean, the attraction of the local vegetation and access to nearby lofty areas thanks to the motor car.

Later on, following the colonial phenomenon in the north of Africa by the French and India by the English, the Andalusian garden and the Mogol garden became new sources of inspiration. Between 1914 and 1920, Morocco became a veritable laboratory of the "modern garden", and was later the showcase for the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925. It was a kind of garden designed by architects, and garnered success until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Nowadays, the "Mediterranean" garden is inspired both by a planetary view of landscapes in other parts of the world that also enjoy a "Mediterranean" climate, and from an ecological-artistic idea of living in what remains of a landscape that has become intensely urbanised.