Leo Bensemann felt a strong connection to Mohua at the top of Te Waipounamu the South Island throughout his life. Although he lived and worked for most of his life in Ōtautahi Christchurch he was born and raised in this idyllic landscape, and he was at his happiest painting, walking, swimming, reading and socialising at Mohua. Over the last two decades of his life he produced an extraordinary series of paintings based on the hills, beaches and intriguing karst rock formations that dominate the Bay. Exquisitely executed, these paintings are imbued with a sense of the region’s unique landscape and convey something of the profound impact it had on Bensemann in his later years. Paradise Garden focuses on this important body of work by one of Canterbury’s most talented painters.