Amid the mountainous jungle of Mexico’s Huesteca region, Edward James, the British artist and wealthy patron of surrealism’s avant-garde, designed a series of canals, pools, and architectural follies, fashioning his own version of the Garden of Eden. Collaborating with Plutarco Gasbélum Esquer and local artisans, James began the works when he first bought the rugged ranch land in 1944, and continued steadfastly until his death 40 years later.

James’s surrealist landscape features a “stairway to nowhere,” a cinema with no seats, a library without books, and a building called La Casa de Tres Pisos (“The Three-Story House”), which in fact has five, as well as more than 30 other follies that he left unfinished. Since his death, the jungle has become increasingly interwoven with the structures, and the landscape has become more compelling than ever.

Bare Footprints Woven into the Carpet