The founder of Wort & Bild Verlag, Rolf Becker, not only created an entire empire of magazines in the healthcare sector, first and foremost the "Apotheken Umschau", but he also launched his lifelong dream, a sculpture park, as the crowning achievement of his work. He was a great art lover, collector and patron. Unfortunately, he did not live to see the completion of his dream - he died in 2014 at the age of 94. Four years later, in 2018, the park was finished: a very special place - in the middle of Baierbrunn, directly on the high banks of the Isar, 8 m steeply sloping down from the publishing buildings at the top of the road, rugged like a wild landscape with "art stations" here and there - to linger and contemplate.

Landscape architect Adelheid Gräfin Schönborn was commissioned to design the garden in such a way that each of the sculptures on display would be staged in its own special place. During lengthy deliberations in the run-up to the project, it first had to be decided which should take first place - art or nature. In the end, it was decided that the plants should serve art in order to highlight their effect. And Adelheid von Schönborn was to fulfill another wish: Rolf Becker had wished that there should always be something in bloom, preferably in blue and white.

First, however, the site had to be developed. A passageway has now been designed so that a natural stone staircase made of Kelheim Auer limestone in a soft beige color leads down and up again on both sides of the garden. Both lead to a small square on which the sculptures of four dancers in white patinated bronze by George Segal form a circle. This is also the view from the new chamber music hall, which was built into the hill, so to speak, and where you can enjoy the view of the park through a 20 m wide glass wall.

Three tall oak trees had to be moved so as not to disturb the sightlines. The only trees added were a few tulip trees, which grow tall and help to create space. A few shrubs and wildflower meadows in between, blue-violet catmint, hydrangeas, wisteria - and art again and again: around every bend, you are surprised by another work of art - there are 14 sculptures by renowned artists in total.

At the beginning, before you descend into the depths of the park, you pass "Ludwig's Dream", an oversized head made of metal notes by Jaume Plensa, which is supposed to represent how the music was created in Beethoven's head. Life-size deer made of aluminum by Paolo Grassino or a "striding figure" by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz can be seen and "The Cloud Surveyor" by Jan Fabre also fits in beautifully. As highly polished as the sculpture is, the surrounding lush vegetation is reflected in it.

www.ags-garten.de

Photos:

Philipp Schönborn
www.philippschoenborn.de

(Published in CUBE Munich 03|20)