FLOWERS: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture
SAATCHI GALLERY, LONDON, 2025
Everyone loves flowers. And that is more or less the simple thesis of the FLOWERS: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery.
Flowers are nature’s art. An enduring muse for artists over centuries, perhaps millennia. And as art has expanded in scope in contemporary culture, flowers are a motif inspiring a breadth of works. This expansive show dives into the myriad of ways flowers have inspired creative expression, from classic art reimagined to photography, fashion, digital art, sculptures and multi-media installations.
The Saatchi Gallery is a non-profit charity organization supporting contemporary art housed in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea. There is something beautiful about a former military building now used to house art, renovated into expansive gallery spaces, and currently filled with flowers of all forms. Inside the imposing building, the exhibition is unpretentious, accessible.
The immersive journey through the exhibition spans two floors and nine galleries, with over 500 pieces shown. Each room guides through different floral interpretations by medium, setting the historical context before moving into contemporary heavyweights like Kusama, Murakami and Koons. Throughout the exhibition, historical references are juxtaposed with contemporary works, connecting across time and medium through the motif of flowers.
The “Flowers and Fashion” section features floral inspired pieces from designers like Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant. Other rooms explore every day contemporary art in the form of posters, book and album covers.
The unofficial marquee of the exhibition is probably the showstopping bespoke installation, La Fleur Morte by Rebecca Louise Law, in a dedicated mezzanine room where 100,000 dried flowers are suspended in a large hanging mobile, dramatically draping over the room, nearly brushing the floor. It’s a highly photogenic work, to be sure, but the delicacy of the flowers at this scale, that might rustle from someone walking by, evokes the tension between life and decay and beauty.
Flowers. Sometimes art is inspired by them. Sometimes art is made with them.
French artist Miguel Chevalier’s interactive digital projection piece, Flowers, that covers the wall in a dark room. Virtual flowers respond to the movements of visitors as they walk by and explore the art, blurring the lines between nature and technology in the vibrant digital garden.
The lower level galleries feature other contemporary artists, and the shop is filled with even more flowers, from books to posters to gifts.
Perhaps flowers are low hanging fruit, but I suppose the popularity is reasonable. It has a little bit of everything for everyone and, let’s be honest. Flowers are easy to like.
see also
NYBG ORCHID SHOW: WHEN THE FLOWERS ARE TRANSFORMED INTO ART
SLEEPING BEAUTIES: WHEN FASHION GETS ITS FLOWERS