This time, we’re travelling a little. To the past, to 1899. To the field of art. And to the Paris located Tuileries garden (fr. Jardin de Tuileries). Camille Pissarro, in his 69th year, painted his view of the garden from his Parisian apartment. Now entirely dedicated to people of Paris and other visitors, it had a different role in the past. And this shift also carries important symbolic value for our thinking about leadership.
Garden, together with Tuileries Palace, was built in 1563 at the request of Catherine de’ Medici, wife of King Henry II of France. It was a venue of lavish parties for local and foreign nobility, hosted by the royal family. It was therefore built with funds from Treasury of the royal family.
The passage of time brought many changes to France. The struggle against authorities (and for rights of the masses) was called the French Revolution (1789) and later its sequels. And as power and role of the royal family changed, so did an image and role of the garden. It was renamed the Jardin National and an increasing proportion of it was given over to the public. When Tuileries Palace was burnt down in 1871 in a new battle, it was never rebuilt. The space below it became a garden and from then on belonged to the people.
The Tuileries Garden in Paris is thus a symbol of the shift from leadership centred on the leader (the royal family) to leadership centred on the followers, i.e. the people.
Paradim 