Amazing Sculpture Parks

Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is located in the US in Grand Rapids Township, Michigan. This botanical garden and sculpture park has more than 200 artworks. Their permanent collection is one of the most extensive collections of outdoor sculpture in the world. There are sculptures by well-known sculptors like Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin, Louis Bourgeois, and Ai Wei Wei, among others.

Among the highlights is Plantoir, a giant trowel sculpture by Claes Oldenburg.

At the James & Shirley Balk Café, you can see a striking glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly.

Hakon Open Air Museum opened in Japan in 1969 as the first open-air museum in the country. It features over 1,000 artworks and sculptures. The museum is located in a lovely setting by Lake Ashinoko with mountains in the background. It has one of the largest collections of Henry Moore sculptures in the world.

The museum also includes many child-friendly art installations and a giant kid’s hammock, Woods of Net.

Among the highlights is the artwork Symphonic Sculpture, a tower of stained glass and

La Pleureuse

Inhotim, or the Instituto De Arte Contemporânea E Jardim Botânico in Brumadinho, Brazil, is one of the best sculpture parks in Latin America. It features over 700 artworks by 200 contemporary artists inside the museum and on the grounds outside.

Inhotim is also a botanical garden with around 5,000 plant species.

Inside the geodesic dome by Pauls Zasnicoff Cardosoo, is an art installation by Matthew Barney, De Lama Lamina Magic Square #5

The Kroeller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, is known to have the second largest Van Gogh art collection in the world. It is one of the largest sculpture parks in Europe, with more than 160 sculptures around the gardens.

Jardin d’Emails is the recently restored monumental sculpture by Jean Dubuffet. Visitors can walk on it from April 1 to November 1 as long as it’s not raining, when the sculpture can be slippery.

Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, Washington, in the US opened in 2007 next to the Seattle Art Museum. This is a former industrial site located on the waterfront near Puget Sound.

The first piece to be installed in this outdoor sculpture garden was Wake, a 300-ton steel Richard Serra artwork.

Among the highlights are

The Eagle by Alexander Calder

Echo by Jaume Plensa

Storm King Art Center takes its name from nearby Storm King Mountain in New Windsor, New York, in the Hudson Valley in the US. (pictured above) The open-air museum has over 100 sculptures, with one of the largest collections of outdoor artworks in the United States. It has one of the largest collections of sculptures by the American Abstract Expressionist sculptor David Smith, who was the first to weld metal. He created gigantic geometric sculptures.

Among the highlights are

Storm King Wavefield, an earthwork by Maya Lin

Three-Legged Buddha by Zhang Huan

 Storm King Wall by Andy Goldsworthy

Children enjoy the interactive exhibit Momo Taro by Isamu Noguchi. You can sing inside the granite structure, which has a special aural resonance.

The Storm King Museum has 9 indoor galleries housed in a French-inspired chateau.

The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the US features over 90 artworks. It is located in City Park next to the New Orleans Museum of Art. This is a lovely garden with oak and pine trees set around two lagoons.

You can cross over the water by the Mississippi Meanders by Elyn Zimmerman, a glass bridge. The colorful lines represent the changing course of the Mississippi River over the years.

The Taro Garden in Capalbio, Italy, is the creation of French-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle and inspired by tarot cards. Other inspiration came from the Gardens of Bomarzo and Parc Güell. This was the first sculpture garden created by a woman. It features 22 sculptures.

Vigeland Park is officially known as the Vigeland Installation in Frogner Park in Oslo, Norway. The park has 212 sculptures by Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland created from bronze, iron, and granite. The artist made the artworks from 1924 to 1943 and donated them to the city.

Among the highlights is the Angry Baby sculpture, whose left hand is rubbed by visitors for good luck.

The Monolith, a contemporary sculpture that features 121 intertwined human figures.

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, England, has one of the largest collections of bronze sculptures by Henry Moore. They have permanent contemporary and figurative art displays with around 80 artworks on display at one time.

Among the highlights are

The Family of Man Barbara Hepworth

Seated Figure Sean Henry

Litter Leo Fitzmaurice

The Virgin Mother, a ten-meter-tall statue by Damien Hirst, can be seen next to Lower Lake.