In recent years Weidenbaum painted a series of works under the title Conservatory: paintings of a piece of protected nature, plants in a glasshouse that, like the painter, are looking for the light. An old grape greenhouse in Overijse and the botanical garden in Liège were the places of inspiration.
The contrast between brilliant whites and deep blacks in this series links directly to the way Gustave Courbet painted his snow landscapes. ‘The conflict between culture and nature has never run so high. It has brought us back to Romanticism,’ says Weidenbaum about the series.
