The work of Ian Hamilton Finlay (* 1925, Nassau, Bahamas - 2006, Edinburgh) Huius seculi constantia atque ordo inconstantia post eritatis a St.J (1990) is now on show in the Dräi Eechelen Park, next to the museum.

The title of this artwork takes up a Latin quotation from Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767-1794), an eloquent political orator during the French Revolution: "The order of the present is the disorder of the future ».

Composed of a set of 13 engraved stones, it constitutes an invitation to contemplation as well as a reflection on the notions of ruins, vestiges and fragments. It belongs to the collection of sixteen works deposited by the American Friends of Mudam and stemming from a donation from Raymond J. Learsy. Its installation in the immediate vicinity of the museum echoes to the other piece of art by Finlay in the Mudam collection, Ripple (2001), which is permanently on show in the Clausen Valley in the City of Luxembourg.

Biographie :

Ian Hamilton Finlay was a sculptor, poet and short-story writer with a passion for philosophy who also ran a small publishing house and created a multi-faceted body of work: prints, books, neon art, sculptures and even landscape designs. Over the course of his career he exhibited regularly and created many permanent installations in Europe and America. In 1985 he was nominated for the Turner Prize. At his home in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, Scotland, he created a garden called Little Sparta which acted as a laboratory for his work. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aberdeen University in 1987, another by Heriot-Watt University in 1993 and was given an honorary chair at Dundee University in 1999.