Overview

The Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory, a five-story, 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) facility, supports tropical plants from around the world. The conservatory houses diverse tropical plants, including coconut palms from the Pacific, fig trees from India, exotic orchids from Central and South America, and Asiatic bamboo and banana trees. Additional indoor gardens include a carnivorous plant house, an arid house for cacti and desert vegetation, and an area with a Victorian theme. Sculpture – Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse: The American Horse by Nina Akamu. Bronze, 24 feet (7.3 m)l in height.
Meijer Gardens includes a 30-acre (12 ha) outdoor sculptural park, which opened on May 16, 2002. The museum has exhibited the work of world-renowned artists including Jonathan Borofsky, Alexander Calder, Tony Smith, Anthony Caro, Antony Gormley, Mark di Suvero, Anish Kapoor, Jenny Holzer, Richard Hunt, Joan Miró, David Nash, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Keith Haring, Laura Ford, and Kenneth Snelson among others.
Permanent collection – Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park primarily collects the work of sculptors. It also contains drawings, provided they were created by artists who identify as sculptors. As of May 2015, the permanent collection contained over 300 artworks. It features works by prominent British and American sculptors including Claes Oldenburg, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra, Barbara Hepworth, and Henry Moore, in addition to major works by the international artists Coosje van Bruggen, Ai Weiwei, Beverly Pepper, and Jaume Plensa. In 2016, the museum acquired the archives of sculptor Beverly Pepper, over 900 works on paper. Following the museum’s acquisition of Iron Tree by Ai Weiwei, a major exhibition of his work was held at the Gardens in 2017. The collection contains numerous outdoor monumental sculptures throughout the property and also indoors in the conservatory, specialty gardens, and gallery. Among the many highlights for visitors is The American Horse, sculpted by Nina Akamu as a homage to the original commission to Leonardo da Vinci of the Duke of Milan, as well as works by Auguste Rodin and Degas in the Victorian Conservatory.