Behind the Mexican Modernism of Luis Barragán that inspired this year’s NYBG Orchid Show
“The Orchid Show: Mexican Modernism.” Photo courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden.
“We want people who know his work to come and say ‘Oh yeah, that is Barragán pink,'” Michaela Wright, director of Exhibition Content and Interpretation, said of this year’s orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden. She’s talking about renowned Mexican architect Luis Barragán. “By the time of his death in 1988, his persona and way of working had attained almost mythical status, and the interest in his oeuvre has increased ever since,” as described by the Luis Barragán Foundation. The hallmark of his designs are clean, painted stucco walls in contrast — yet harmony — with the natural surroundings. Some of his prominent works in Mexico City include the Barragán House, Las Arboledas, Fuente de los Amantes, and Cuadra San Cristobal. This legacy of color and Mexican Modernism was the inspiration for this year’s orchid show and accompanying photo exhibit, running through April 27.
According to Wright, it all started with a brainstorming session and the creativity of Kenia Pittman, the director of Exhibition Design and Operations at the garden, who has Mexican heritage and studied in Mexico.
“We were all really called to [Barragán’s] work and used it to tell a garden story. He has this amazing color palette we thought was the perfect aesthetic approach for orchids,” Wright said.
“He has this restrained approach, clean lines; it’s geometric and shaping space in a poetic way — a counter to the orchid, which is so bold and in your face. We thought the contrast worked really well, setting orchids into this really modern retrained atmosphere, you see them in a new light.”
The orchid show, which Wright says is one of the most popular exhibits, along with the holiday train show, has a different theme each year aimed at celebrating the ever-popular flower species described by the NYBG as the “seductive stars” of the tropical plants collection.
According to the NYBG, some orchirds “are no bigger than your thumbnail, while others are the size of your hand. Some mimic bees and butterflies, while others resemble a lady’s slipper. Orchids can be found in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas, and have evolved to survive in astonishing places.”
This year’s show was a chance to showcase the over 200 orchid varieties endemic to Mexico and bring the feel of Mexico City (where most of Barragán’s work is) to New York City.
“Not only was this an opportunity to talk about design…but also the rich plant life of Mexico, which Barragán was in conversation with — his houses are in conversation with the landscape; he incorporated plants into the design,” Wright said.
“Organic forms of cacti were integral to providing texture [in his designs], so he was thinking about native plant life of Mexico. That was a story to tell.”
The Luis Barragán Foundation further explains that he would “experiment with gardens and domestic spaces, merging natural and man-made environments. His visionary projects included the large urban development Jardines del Pedregal.” This includes Casa Pedregal, where Barragán lived. The pink stucco house features clean, straight lines of bold color in direct juxtaposition to the rugged desert landscape of Mexico City: gnarled tree branches and wildflowers.
Barragán didn’t design at his desk but directly on site, with “life-size models, touching the elements with his own hands,” as a 2019 Elle Decor article described the house:
“The stone, light, air — all of these pieces to the puzzle were sewn together within the project, adapting his drawings to the mutating conditions of the landscapes. Only in this way could he fully understand the nature and architecture of the home he had envisioned. From the outside, the structure is linear, sober, square, following in line with the Modernist canon.”
This is most expressly captured in the desert section of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where the orchid show is housed. Knobby, crooked cacti and desert trees positioned against colorful panes of glass are the centerpiece of the arid room speckled with colorful orchids.
This room follows the humid, dense rainforest rooms of the conservatory and leads the way into the centerpiece of the Barragán-inspired exhibit. Orchids pool down purple, fuschia, and orange walls made to look like stucco while fountains create a soothing soundtrack.
Cacti grow from gravel, as does a cerulean blue tree trunk — a playful melding of organic and whimsical. Guests stop in front of each vignette to take selfies — one woman is doing a maternity shoot. It is an almost overwhelmingly satisfying feast for the eyes.
The set started with drawings sent to fabricators, and the installation took less than three weeks, turning the holiday train show into the orchid show. Then it’s a “mad dash to cover set pieces with orchids,” Wright said. While she said it’s impossible to know exactly how many orchids are in the show at any given moment, it’s well into the thousands.
“We are very pleased that the current architectural theme, colours and forms were inspired by Luis Barragán’s work and the larger context of Mexican culture,” a spokesperson for the Luis Barragán Foundation said.
“In view of Barragán’s personal interest in garden and landscape design, which played a key role in his work, we regard the Orchid Show’s combination of architectural elements and specially chosen plants as a fitting tribute to Barragán’s abiding ambition of achieving a synthesis of art, architecture, and nature.”
The set is, of course, a tribute. But those interested in diving further into the actual works of Barragán can visit an accompanying photo exhibit of works by Martirene Alcántara titled “Homage to Luis Barragán: An Act of Poetry.” Alcántara has been photographing his work for more than 25 years.
“She feels very called to him and has an amazing way of capturing perspective on his work the lay person would never see,” Wright said.
“She’s spent so much time sitting with his designs. She’s capturing perspectives no one else is seeing. In conversations, she’d say being in a Barragán space changes every minute — the sun, the shadows cast, the experience of color. You can take the same picture of a place twice in a day and it’s not the same. It’s ephemeral.”
The same could be said for the scenes of the orchid show, which, though housed inside the conservatory, are subject to the light of early spring — a fickle season of rain, clouds, and sun on any given day.
After the show closes on April 27, the walls will come down, and the orchids will get an altogether new environment, becoming part of the landscape of New York City. Due to the sheer volume of orchids needed for the exhibit, the garden buys most of the flowers and lets them live out their natural lives.
At the end of the show, the ones still going strong are donated to community organizations like assisted living facilities in the Bronx. “They get a second life on window sills,” Wright said.
Tickets start at $35 for adults, $31 for students, and $15 for children ages 2-12. Buy tickets here.
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