Kasteel Wijlre estate uniquely combines contemporary art and architecture with nature and cultural heritage. Nestled in the scenic Limburg hills, the 17th-century castle, coach house, expansive gardens and park offer a space for reflection and inspiration.

The Hedge House – a serene exhibition space by architect Wiel Arets – seamlessly fuses indoors and outdoors. A striking combination of concrete, glass, orchid greenhouse and chicken coop. Wander through garden rooms enclosed by hedges and discover sculptures by contemporary artists such as Giuseppe Penone, who created two iconic tree sculptures especially for this location.

Since 2015, the estate has been a public, independent institution, initiated by art collectors Jo and Marlies Eyck. Each year, it presents an international programme of exhibitions, public events and educational activities at the intersection of art and nature. Recent exhibitions have featured work by, among others, Lin May Saeed, Tala Madani, Thierry Oussou, Kerry James Marshall, Otobong Nkanga, Elspeth Diederix, and Joëlle Tuerlinckx.

Kasteel Wijlre estate opens the 2025 season with two solo exhibitions. From 11 May to 24 August 2025, the Hedge House and its gardens will host the first retrospective exhibition in the Netherlands of German artist Lin May Saeed: "The Herd at the Watering Hole". Saeed is internationally renowned for her work exploring the relationship between humans and animals. Simultaneously, the estate will present in the Coach House "Il y avait un Jardin", a solo exhibition by Dutch artist Gladys Zeevaarders. This presentation focuses on new work in which Zeevaarders investigates the natural processes taking place in the estate’s gardens and surrounding fields.

Lin May Saeed: The Herd at the Watering Hole

Lin May Saeed (DE, 1973-2023) was a German artist whose work was deeply entangled withthe subject of animal rights. In her imaginative work, the agency of the non-human living world takes center stage. Primarily active as a sculptor, Saeed favored Styrofoam as her medium of choice, creating a fantastical universe in a unique visual language, populated by sovereign animal figures that seem to have wandered out of myths and fables. The exhibition in and around the Hedge House presents a cross-section of her work, with a focus on the core of her practice: sculptures and reliefs that express solidarity between humans and animals. Saeed’s work offers a world of hope and optimism, where animals are equal to humans, possessing their own personalities and agency. Her practice is both critical and humorous, aiming to shed new light - without moralising - on the complex questions surrounding our relationship with animal life.

The exhibition in Wijlre marks the first solo presentation of the artist’s work in the Netherlands since her passing in 2023. Around 20 works are brought together to provide a cohesive overview of Saeed’s oeuvre. With this retrospective exhibition of Lin May Saeed, Kasteel Wijlre estate reaffirms its commitment to showcasing internationally significant artists whose work critically and imaginatively explores the relationship between humanity and nature. Saeed previously participated in the group exhibition Spark Birds & the Loneliness of Species, which took place at the estate in 2023. The exhibition is made possible with the cooperation of the Estate of Lin May Saeed in Frankfurt.

In the Coach House, new work by South Limburg-based artist Gladys Zeevaarders (Kerkrade,1993) is on view in her solo exhibition "Il y avait un Jardin." In recent years, Zeevaarder has garnered attention for her work, which evolved from a precise, sensitive drawing practice (often developed through collective processes) into a contemplative exploration of the visual structures of the natural world, taking shape across various media. The core of her working process for "Il y avait un Jardin" was formed by patient fieldwork. For the span of a year, the artist regularly spent time in and around the estate, guided by what the natural world placed at her feet and revealed to her in spontaneous moments. Patience and attentiveness are essential elements in Zeevaarders’ process. On a deeper level, her work emerges from the distinction between 'looking' and 'seeing' - a deliberate, receptive mode of perception rooted in a profound connection to one’s surroundings.

In "Il y avait un Jardin", this sensitivity has resulted in an unexpected visual richness, captured in the minute details of plants, flowers and fungi. The exhibition at the Coach House brings together several new series: riso prints, textile works, and an archive centred around colour extractions from nature.

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