The Eden Garden

The Eden Garden: Adam and Eve is an art and landscape project conceived by Rosa Ceño around the public works of Eduardo Chillida Belzunce, in collaboration with Blanca Soto Arte Gallery for Marbella Design 2019. The two sculptures, characterised by the landscape architect as Adam and Eve, were previously exhibited in Paris in the exhibition Des lieux et des hommes by the artist, son and namesake of the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida.

The Beauty of Mathematics. Ginkgo Landscape presents a design based on the golden ratio (Phi) and the Fibonacci spiral. Two rectangular gardens follow golden proportions, reflected in the ratio of their sides (3.236:2 = 1.618). Although the dimensions of the two sculptures together do not adhere to this golden principle—their width-to-length ratio is not 1.618—the arc connecting each garden to the rectangle of the sculptures aligns with the golden ratio, forming part of the Fibonacci spiral.

Ceño portrays the duality of a symbolic and conceptual garden designed with golden proportions through a Mediterranean-tropical space, providing sustainable climate solutions and staging a dilemma: Adam and Eve, masters of their free will, contemplate their choice of garden in a paradise for the five senses—colours, fragrances, textures, sounds, and tastes recreate an ideal world in which nature envelops two intimate sculptures. A fountain represents the four-armed river (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates) that waters the garden. In a poetic botanical metaphor, Adam (Sophora japonica) and Eve (Lagunaria patersonii) merge in an embrace from which blooms a shower of bromeliads (Billbergia × windii), evoking the thawed sounds of Rabelais’ Gargantua, transformed into gemstones such as emeralds and rubies.

As our planet increasingly suffers the effects of climate change and water is a scarce resource, xeriscaping principles are applied. Numerous spiny plants are included: Erythrina crista-galli, Phormium tenax ‘Purpurea’, Dioon spinulosum, and Cycas revoluta, living fossils from the dinosaur era; Agave atenuata, Chamaerops humilis, and palms such as Washingtonia robusta and Archontophoenix alexandrae, alongside bromeliads like Aechmeas, Nidularum, or Vriesea. Geometry underpins the composition: a rectangle of Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) frames the circle formed by the pink inflorescences of the Albizia julibrissin ‘Ombrella’ (Persian silk tree), which conceals the garden’s best-kept secret: a menacing-looking Yucca rostrata with dragon-like skin and a beautiful bluish hue, storing water in its trunk.

Fruit trees hold a prominent role: in the Orchard of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is represented by a kumquat bearing ‘forbidden fruits’. In the Gravel Garden, Vitis vinifera symbolises the Tree of Immortality. Papayas (Carica papaya), pineapples (Ananas comosus ‘Variegata’), and peach trees (Prunus persica) complete the Eden orchard. Plants resembling animals abound: elephant ears (Alocasia macrorrhiza), fish tails (Caryota mitis), dragons (Yucca rostrata, Dracaena draco), hedgehogs (Ptilotus exaltatus ‘Joey’), and ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum), among others.