Ian Hamilton Finlay

The works of Ian Hamilton Finlay (b. 1925, Nassau – d. 2006, Edinburgh) blend seamlessly into the landscape. His piece HUIUS SECULI CONSTANTIA ATQUE ORDO INCONSTANTIA POST ERITATIS A ST. J (1990), which can be seen in the Dräi Eechelen Park, takes its Latin title from the words of Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767–1794), a political orator during the French Revolution known for his eloquence, and means: ‘The order of the present is the disorder of the future.’ It is an invitation to contemplate and to reflect on the notion of ruins, remnants and fragments.

The piece forms part of a group of works on permanent loan from the American Friends of Mudam and made possible by the donation made by Raymond J. Learsy. Its installation in the immediate vicinity of the museum resonates with another of the artist’s works in the Mudam Collection – Ripple (2001) – which is on permanent display in Luxembourg City’s Clausen district.