Gezicht in een tuin 1907 - 1930

This small photograph, “Gezicht in een tuin” or “View in a Garden,” was created by Adolphe Burdet. Born in Switzerland in 1860, Burdet lived through a period of immense transformation, marked by industrialization and shifting social structures. The print shows a carefully curated garden, where nature is manicured, domesticated, and confined to pots. Gardens like this were status symbols, reflecting the social and economic positions of their owners. Spaces such as these provided sites of leisure and reflection away from the rapid industrialization. In Burdet’s world, photography was developing as both an artistic medium and a tool for documentation, capable of capturing both the beauty and the harsh realities of contemporary life. Though undated, the print offers a glimpse into a world shaped by class, privilege, and a changing relationship with the environment. It asks us to reflect on our own relationship with nature, and the ways in which we seek to control and aestheticize it.