Exploring the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden of Stellenbosch

Imagine a haven where art aficionados and nature enthusiasts can converge. Here, they can enjoy the masterpieces crafted by the hands of man and Mother Nature alike. The Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden is such a haven.

Located in the Western Cape town of Stellenbosch, this sprawling, seven-hectare garden is ruled by over 60 striking sculptures, all depicting human figures, animals and mythical beings in varying poses. They’re surrounded by carpets of greenery, with the mountains looming over them like silent sentinels.

As you can imagine, there’s plenty of beauty to behold here, in forms both wild and tame. And it all began 16 years ago…

FROM PLAY AREA TO SCULPTURE GARDEN

Mulberry Farm in Paradyskloof has been the site of Johannesburg-born artist Dylan Lewis’ studio and bronze foundry since 1993. It also serves as his and his family’s residence.

In 2009, Lewis sought to create a play area for his children behind their house on the farm. The original plan was to hire an excavator to level the elevated flat farmland.

Soon enough, however, the artist – whose bronze depictions of big cats had brought him global acclaim – recognised the creative potential of this land. Per his website:

I spent almost two years with earth-moving equipment, these very large machines contouring the landscape much as I would the surface of a sculpture, using the same principles, but on a much bigger scale. I developed a sign language with the operator, and he became an extension of my hand.

The garden’s design echoes that of a Japanese garden, complete with walkways, streams, manicured planting, boulders and a lily pond. Yet the majority of the flora is South African to the core: indigenous species include pelargonium, silkypuffs and watsonias. Fynbos, specifically ericas and restios, also blankets the landscape.

The mountains of Stellenbosch, tall and rugged, are another beauteous reminder of the surrounding African terrain.

SCULPTED PERFECTION AND IMPERFECTION

“Unlike humans,” says Lewis, “plants, birds, animals, clouds, rivers and oceans have no opinion of me; they are utterly indifferent to my existence. There is both a horror and a tremendous freedom in this realisation.”

Between 2009 and 2017, Lewis set to work on the sculptures that would inhabit the garden. 

Primarily sculpted from bronze, they are grouped accordingly, from birds, wild cats and African animals to fragmented human torsos, male shamanic figures and monumental fragments.

Think a pair of wildebeest, fragments of the human body displayed in different positions, a leopard surveying the land (much like Hout Bay’s bronze leopard) and large-scale, broken pieces that reflect the inherent untameability that we carry within us, among other pieces.

Altogether, they invite us to consider many themes. Rethinking our relationship with nature, for one. The impact of human colonisation on the world’s ecosystem, for another. They also prompt us to look within, to pinpoint the wild spirit that modernity has attempted to tame.

It’s all up to interpretation, of course. Nevertheless, the garden certainly takes you down trails of thought you probably had yet to traverse.

LOOK AWAY TO THE SCULPTURE GARDEN

As of 2025, visits to the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden are by appointment. These take place between 8:30 and 17:00 from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

For self-guided visits:

• Standard garden entry fee: R260 per person.
• Students and South African pensioners: R160 per person (identification is required).
• Children under the age of 18 can enter free.
• You will receive a complimentary detailed map of the garden.

For private guided tours:

• One to five guests: R1 700 per group.
• Six to ten guests: R2 200 per group.
• 11-20 guests: R3 300 per group.
• The tour fee excludes the garden entry fee.

Bookings can be made online or by calling 021 880 0054.

Again, the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden is a dream destination for lovers of art and nature alike. It is here that they can truly appreciate the blended contrast – or contrasted blend – of wilderness and tameness at play.

And that, folks, can be a beautiful thing.