The Mysterious Garden by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh

The Mysterious Garden by Margaret Macdonald was created in 1911, during the later years of the Art Nouveau movement. It is said that the watercolor piece was inspired by Maurice Maeterlinck’s play The Blue Bird. The Mysterious Garden is one of Macdonald's most popular works 

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and her sister Frances MacDonald are considered by many to be the pioneers of the iconic Art Nouveau style. They studied at the Glasgow School of Art where they and two of their classmates, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Harold MacNair were known as Art Nouveau’s Glasgow Four.

According to JSTOR Daily, the two sisters defied the gender norms of the 1890's, as they painted nude women, sold their artwork, and owned their own studio; all of which were uncommon for women to do at the time. During their exhibit with the Vienna Succession in 1900, it is said that their work inspired Gustav Klimt, a figurehead of the Art Nouveau movement, to create his Beethoven Frieze.