Set on 1.8 acres in Calder’s hometown of Philadelphia, the site is located along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It features gardens designed by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, showcasing over 250 varieties of plants, and an 18,000 square-foot building by Herzog & de Meuron that hosts a rotating selection of Calder’s art.
Calder Gardens, 2025. Photograph by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder © 2025 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Inside and out, visitors will find on display a wide range of works by Calder, highlighting the artist’s fifty-year career and diverse bodies of work. “The architecture and gardens invite us to direct our own journey, to interpret what we see in a uniquely personal way, to use our hearts more than our heads,” says Alexander S. C. Rower, president of the Calder Foundation and the artist’s grandson. “This is a place for reflection, introspection, and discovery.”
Festivities begin the day before the opening with Chaos and Kisses: A Grand Opening Parade for Calder Gardens, a free public event on 20 September led by artist, composer, and musician Arto Lindsay. Organised by Juana Berrío, Marsha Perelman Senior Director of Programs, the parade is “a gift to the public that embodies the values of collaboration, experimentation, and the ever-changing cycles of life that were central in Calder’s own work and that will guide Calder Gardens’ programming,” Berrío explains.
Calder in his Roxbury studio, 1941. Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York. © 2025 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Year-round, Calder Gardens will offer a wide array of experiences such as self-guided audio walks, sound- and movement-based performances, listening sessions, film screenings and readings, community events, and horticulture-focused initiatives.
Cover image: Calder Gardens, 2025. Photograph by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder © 2025 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
