flowers — flora in contemporary art at culture opens soon
Spring arrives early in London as Flowers — Flora In Contemporary Art & Culture blooms at the Saatchi Gallery. Opening on 12th February, the exhibition gathers 500 unique artworks and objects, tracing the enduring influence of flowers in art, design, fashion, music, literature, and science from past to present. Across nine thematic galleries, each exploring this expression of this subject across various mediums and cultural contexts, the works range from large-scale immersive installations and original paintings to photography and archival objects.
Throughout, the exhibition celebrates the ways flora has shaped human creativity throughout history, and how they have endured as symbols, metaphors, and emotional signifiers, deeply embedded in myths, stories, and cultural traditions. Standout works include Rebecca Louise Law’s mesmerizing installation featuring 100,000 dried flowers, alongside the intervention of Miguel Chevalier who transforms an entire room into a digital garden of interactive virtual flora. Among the hundreds of participating artists, artists also include Philip Colbert, Damien Hirst, Yinka Ilori, and Takashi Murakami.
Rebecca Louise Law, Calyx
over 500 floral artworks bloom at the saatchi gallery
Divided into nine thematic sections further distinguished by mediums, Flowers — Flora In Contemporary Art & Culture begins with the section titled Roots. This is a historical exploration of floral depictions and their embedded symbolism from Renaissance masterpieces to the intricate compositions of the Arts & Crafts Movement and modernist reinterpretations of botanical beauty. Ahead, In Bloom highlights the continued fascination with flowers in contemporary art, showcasing works created over the past 30 years by renowned artists such as Gillian Ayres, Elizabeth Blackadder, Alex Katz, Gary Hume, and Marc Quinn alongside emerging creatives.
The third room, Flowers and Fashion, explores the perpetual appeal of flora, which has adorned and inspired clothing and accessories, from high-street trends to haute couture. Here, Buccellati’s hand-carved silverware and jewelry take center stage. Photography and sculpture take the spotlight in another section, capturing nature’s fleeting beauty in two and three dimensions.
Rebecca Louise Law, The Womb
from large scale installations to digital gardens
The fifth room is occupied entirely by La Fleur Morte, a bespoke installation created by Rebecca Louise Law. Vast and immersive, it comprises of over 100,000 dried flowers suspended in a double-height gallery, inviting visitors to wander through a suspended floral dreamscape. The exhibition extends beyond visual arts, delving into how flowers have influenced music, film, and literature. Ahead, a wall display of vinyl records reveals the recurring floral emblems that have graced album covers for the past five decades, while literature and cinema sections look at the metaphorical richness of flowers in storytelling. Visitors can also immerse in a digital floral fantasy in the seventh room, Digital Botanica, where an interactive installation by Miguel Chevalier projects virtual flowers and plants that respond to movement across 70 square meters.
Aimée Hoving, Compost, 2019
The penultimate section, Science: Life & Death, developed in collaboration with the Chelsea Physic Garden, offers a fascinating look at the medicinal and toxic properties of flowers. Featuring botanical illustrations from the Schroder Collection, this segment examines the scientific and mathematical principles behind floral structures, including their role in genetic research and ecological balance. New Shoots concludes the exhibition, showcasing how emerging contemporary artists have been redefining floral imagery through experimental media and unconventional perspectives. This section becomes a rich garden of blooms, promising a fresh and thought-provoking take on an age-old artistic subject.
Viviane Sassen, In Bloom (shot for Dazed & Confused magazine), 2011
Robert Walker, Flora plastica #01, 2020
Aimée Hoving, Het Boeket (from the series Pictures of Her), 2017
Mandy Barker, Hong Kong Soup 1826 – Lotus Garden, 2014
Sandra Kantanen, Still Life (Flowers I)
Martin Schoeller, Jeff Koons with Floral Headpiece, New York, NY, 2013
Carmen Mitrotta, Geometric Leaves | image courtesy the artist
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Miguel Chevalier, Extra-Natural, 2024 (1)
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project info:
name: Flowers — Flora In Contemporary Art & Culture
location: Saatchi Gallery | @saatchi_gallery, London, UK
dates: February 12 — May 5, 2025