This weekend I was able to visit the Artist’s Garden Exhibit at The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk Virginia. The exhibit is open until early September. Approximately seventy works are on display. This space shows American artists that used gardens essentially as laboratories for their studies in color theory in the impressionist style. Those who are regular visitors will certainly reconize some of the American artists by name and perhaps style. I certainly discovered a few new favorites. The growth of the American middle class in the late 19th century was able to have and explore gardens. A theme emerges in the exhibit of showcasing feminity within the walled garden. In my view many of the artists saw their female models as idealizations within the walled garden. Exagerations are present in some of the work of both the flowers (eg: painted larger and more vivid) and the models aesthetic ideal of the time-period. Nonetheless, the works are inspiring, and I will certainly be going again and again.