Calder Gardens Cultural Destination Opens in Philadelphia via Calder Foundation and Barnes Foundation Partnership
Calder Gardens opened to the public on September 21, 2025, at the 1.8-acre site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway between 21st and 22nd Streets in Philadelphia. The venue is a collaboration between the Calder Foundation, which supplies curatorial vision, and the Barnes Foundation, which provides administrative and operational support. The building was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and the gardens and meadows were created by Piet Oudolf. Works by Alexander Calder are displayed without labels inside and outside the structure, with the selection changing over time.
The Signal
The opening introduces a permanent public site for Calder's mobiles, stabiles, paintings and drawings that departs from conventional museum labeling to encourage personal interpretation. The project signals a resource-sharing model between foundations that could influence how other institutions present modern sculpture in landscape settings. Collectors and curators will note the emphasis on direct encounter with the works and the involvement of established figures in architecture and planting.
- Artists: Alexander Calder
- People: Alexander S. C. Rower, Piet Oudolf, Jacques Herzog, Arto Lindsay, Juana Berrío
- Museums: Barnes Foundation
- Locations: Philadelphia
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