The Trees of Life (Spanish: Árboles de la Vida) are a public art installation in Managua, Nicaragua. Begun in 2013 to honor the 34th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, the Trees of Life are a city beautification project of First Lady

Rosario Murillo Rosario María Murillo Zambrana (; born 22 June 1951) is a Nicaraguan politician and poet who has held the position of Vice President of Nicaragua, the country's second highest office, since January 2017 and First Lady of Nicaragua since 2007 ...

, who has also served as Nicaragua's Vice President since 2017. Artificial flowers on the streets of the city

The approximately 140 abstract, brightly colored tree sculptures were reportedly inspired by the 1909 work by Austrian painter

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

called '' The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze''. They are made of metal and decorated by 2.5 million tiny light bulbs in total. Standing 42 to 56 feet tall, they cost a reported $20,000 to $25,000 ( USD) apiece and in total $1 million to light annually. The Trees often line streets and parks in Managua and sometimes accompany other statues, including the illuminated statue of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

in Managua's Hugo Chávez Roundabout, which cost $1.1 million to construct, and the statue of Nicaraguan revolutionary (and Murillo's great-uncle)

Augusto Sandino Augusto is an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: *Augusto Aníbal *Augusto dos Anjos * Augusto Arbizo *Augusto Barbera (born 1938), Italian law professor, politician and judge *Augusto Ben ...

on the stage of Managua's outdoor concert venue, the Acoustic Shell. Commentary on the visual style of the installation has been mixed. One observer compared them to the lavish Catholic cathedrals constructed in the colonial period, saying "these vibrant public artworks have drastically brightened the streets of Managua — and in a relatively short time." However other viewers have called them "garish". In the

2018 protests Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the shor ...

, demonstrators toppled, and in some cases set on fire, a number of the Trees, a gesture widely interpreted as a rebuke to the administration and Murillo specifically.

References

{{reflist Public art Nicaraguan art 2013 sculptures Urban renewal