The Garden Museum’s new exhibition Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors, highlights four key Bloomsbury women, writer Virginia Woolf, artist Vanessa Bell, arts patron and photographer Lady Ottoline Morrell, and the writer and poet Vita Sackville-West. Celebrating their gardens and offering an insight into the private lives of the Bloomsbury set; these gardens were the backdrop for relationships, creative inspiration, and a sanctuary in times of war and personal turmoil. Using paintings, photographs and textiles from their time the exhibition pieces together the colourful lives of these women and the gardens they surrounded themselves with.

This exhibition made for a meaningful collaboration with care for the environment and the natural world being at the heart of our missions at Edward Bulmer Natural Paint  and at The Garden Museum, the perfect pairing.

We are proud to have sponsored the exhibition, using some of our most coveted colours Malahide, Invisible Green, Turquoise and Lavender,

Lady Ottoline Morrell at Garsington with Malahide

As you enter the exhibition you are greeted by our deep Malahide, introducing Lady Ottoline Morrell at Garsington. The punchiness of Malahide matches the theatricality of Morrell’s garden, which was inspired by her travels abroad. Seeing it as her ‘stage’ Ottoline invited important writers and thinkers to experience her Italian garden, dispersed with peacocks, yew hedging and Italian statues, warranting many a comment in the writing of friend Virginia Woolf. The opulence and social freedoms her gardens manifested drew criticism but importantly served as a vital refuge during war, a place of safety and retreat. For the Bloomsbury Group, and especially for Ottoline and Philip, Garsington would solidify itself as a ‘spiritual home’ despite them having to sadly sell in 1928. Malahide conjures the warmth of the summer days spent in the garden surrounded by peacocks, and the vibrant happenings.  

Malahide is the perfect colour in snugs or cooler rooms, providing lots of warmth and depth for smaller spaces. It sits well with blue accents, and while it is strong, it is never overwhelming with its earthy undertones. 

Vanessa Bell at Charleston with Invisible Green

Invisible Green was a fitting choice for this artist’s garden at Charleston, planned and planted by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, friends and lovers, they cherished this garden and drew inspiration from it. The houses and gardens of the women in the Bloomsbury set were deeply interconnected; it was Virginia Woolf, Vanessa’s sister, who initially convinced her to take the lease on at Charleston, a romantic Sussex farmhouse. Nestled in the fields, Invisible Green helps reimagine the inspiration found in their paintings from the gardens and surrounding landscape. While Charleston was the setting for many happy occasions, it also provided solace during times of hardship; Vanessa built a more reclusive area in which to view the garden after the death of her son in the Spanish Civil War. Times here were spent bathing, socialising, and planting; it was a place of intimacy for the group.  

Our Invisible Green is perfect for those rooms overlooking the garden, blending the inside and the outside, it comes alive in the summer months. Equally it can offer a slice of a rich greenery for those who do not have an outdoor space and cheers any room lacking a view of natural foliage.  

Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House with Turquoise

Drawing on Virginia Woolf’s writing lodge, Monks House was purchased just after the First World War and would become her sanctuary in times of mental health crisis, providing peace and a place to be at one with nature. Her writing lodge is nestled in amongst the garden, which she drew much inspiration from, with many of her most famous works being written here. Offering much tranquillity and escapism from her Bloomsbury life, Monk’s House was a place to write and socialise. She spent much time here with her lover Vita Sackville-West and it is also close by to her sister at Charleston. Her and Leopold invested much time into the garden, sewing and seeding many gardens rooms, providing escapism and tranquillity.  

Here on these walls Turquoise has been used, a bright but comforting blue, which sets off the earthy browns and oranges in the paintings. Perfect in halls to make a statement. 

Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst Castle with Lavender

Vita Sackville-West grew up amongst the many towers and courtyards of Knole, unable to inherit, she found Sissinghurst an Elizabethan ruin in the Kent Weald, with its own set of turrets and courtyards. It is clear Vita was looking for vestiges of home, and her and Harold set about restoring the ruin. Only part of the mansion survived by the time Vita and Harold purchased the estate, taking over three years to clear the brambles and bushes. The gardens mirror the now lost sprawling complex of rooms and wings contained within a moat; walks now lined with Yew and roses climbing over old walls. During the Second World War, Vita spent almost all of her time at Sissinghurst tending to its gardens. She forged a romantic maze of orchards, box hedging and flowers that offered respite from the planes flying overhead. She was a writer, and her study was in one of the turrets overlooking the gardens and estate. Lavender is a regal colour and evocative of Vita’s strength of character. 

Warm and sophisticated, Lavender suits bedrooms, sitting rooms and bathrooms especially well. A soft alternative to pink, it works well with red accents.

Join Edward Bulmer at The Garden Museum, 10th September

Unpicking the Colourful Past in England’s country houses with Edward Bulmer

Please join us at the Garden Museum on the 10th September 2024 to hear the colour expert himself talk about his book The Colourful Past: Edward Bulmer and the English Country House

Click here to read all about it and book your ticket. Why not reserve yourself a table at The Garden Café for afterwards and enjoy a delicious seasonal lunch.

Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors runs from 15 May – 29 Sep 2024