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Not far from Lehman College lies the New York Botanical Garden. The Garden’s ever-changing landscape provides inspiration for poets, nature lovers, and artists. On Friday, May 14, its latest exhibit, “Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas” opened. The exhibit features a number of works of American Impressionist art, along with an American Impressionist Garden display in the iconic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Perhaps one might be tempted to ask, “What if the New York Botanical Garden were painted by a Childe Hassam or John Singer Sargent, what might it look like?” One certainly can leave that question to the unlimited bounds of one’s imagination.

However, for the first time, the Garden’s website also features an interactive component that renders one’s photos into Impressionist works. In other words, one could take photos of the New York Botanical Garden. Afterward, one could upload those photos to the website’s “Impressify” tool, select a brushstroke length, brushstroke width, saturation, and hue. Then, with a click of one’s mouse or tap on one’s phone screen, one could transform the image into an Impressionist work.

What might they look like? Below are Impressionist-type works based on three of my photos from the New York Botanical Garden:

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

Daffodil Hill in Spring

Tulips