Flowers – Flora in contemporary art & culture
Location
Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York's HQ
King's Road
London
SW3 4RY
Description
This exhibition runs from Wednesday 12th February 2025 to Monday 5th May 2025.
Occupying two floors and over nine major gallery spaces, the exhibition will feature large-scale installations, original art, photography, fashion, archival objects and graphic design exploring the ongoing influence of flowers on creativity and human expression.
Flowers have, throughout history, inspired artists, writers and creatives. This exhibition seeks to reveal the myriad ways that flowers continue to be depicted by artists, and their omnipresence within our contemporary culture. Aside from studies of their inherent beauty and drama, flowers are also utilised as symbols, signifiers or metaphors for human emotions and impulses. Flora lies at the heart of myths and stories that inform our cultural outlook and language. Recognised as unparalleled objects of beauty in nature, artists continue to evoke the power and beauty of flora to convey a multitude of messages and meanings.
The exhibition is divided into nine sections, each exploring different creative themes and media. The first section, Roots, establishes the rich history of artists depicting flowers and harnessing their symbolic power from the Renaissance through Dutch flower painting to the blossoming of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the 19th century and onto modernist explorations of flowers in the 20th century. The second room, In Bloom, focuses on works by established contemporary artists created over the past 30 years revealing how flowers have continued to fascinate and provide inspirational material in our contemporary age.
A third room explores the relationship between Flowers and Fashion. People have adorned themselves with flora throughout our history. From the high street to high couture, flowers are a source of infinite inspiration, aspirational allure and perpetual appeal. It includes the jewellery and silverware of Buccellati – known for its distinctive style and hand-engraving techniques. The fourth room in the exhibition includes works by contemporary photographers and sculptors. Here, moments of beauty and life are captured in two and three dimensions.
The fifth room is a 2,000 sq ft gallery space entirely devoted to a bespoke installation piece created by internationally renowned artist Rebecca Louise Law. Entitled La Fleur Morte, a double-height gallery space will feature over 100,000 dried flowers for visitors to explore and contemplate.
The exhibition continues with a room reflecting on the prevalence of flowers as emblems and content in music, film and literature. A wall of vinyl will reveal the recurrent themes that feature on vinyl record covers over the past 50 years. Separate sections on film and literature will also demonstrate how flowers have proved fruitful sources of meaning and metaphor for poets, writers and directors.
A seventh room will be completely transformed into a digital projection space featuring the work of the pioneering French artist Miguel Chevalier. This animated work features virtual flowers and plants projected over 70 square metres and which interact with the movement of visitors within the space.
The penultimate gallery space is entitled Science: Life & Death. In collaboration with the Chelsea Physic Garden there will be sections of botanical art reflecting on the properties of flowers as medicinal plants and another looking at flowers as poisonous plants. The mathematical principles behind some natural floral phenomena will be explored as will the influence of the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show. A section featuring superb botanical illustrations, kindly loaned by the Schroder Collection from the Schroder family, reveals how orchids were bred and developed over decades in the 20th century.
The final room of the exhibition will feature artworks by emerging or early-stage artists entitled New Shoots. The gallery space will be a rich garden of blooms competing for the attention of the viewer and revealing a diverse range of styles, approaches and media being used by contemporary artists right now.
Over 500 unique artworks and objects will be on display throughout the exhibition
Prices
Standard Ticket: £18
Contact and Booking Details
Upcoming Dates
This exhibition runs from Wednesday 12th February 2025 to Monday 5th May 2025.
Forthcoming dates:
Fri 14th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Sat 15th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Sun 16th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Mon 17th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Tue 18th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Wed 19th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Thu 20th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Fri 21st Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Sat 22nd Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
Disclaimer
The information and prices in this listing are presumed to be correct at the time of publishing, but please always check with the venue before making a special trip.
All images are supplied by the exhibition organiser.
Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York's HQ
King's Road
London
SW3 4RY
This exhibition runs from Wednesday 12th February 2025 to Monday 5th May 2025.
This event runs over several days/weeks. Dates include:
February 2025
- Wed 12th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 13th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 14th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 15th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 16th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 17th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 18th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 19th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 20th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 21st Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 22nd Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 23rd Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 24th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 25th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 26th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 27th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 28th Feb 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
March 2025
- Sat 1st Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 2nd Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 3rd Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 4th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 5th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 6th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 7th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 8th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 9th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 10th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 11th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 12th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 13th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 14th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 15th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 16th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 17th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 18th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 19th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 20th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 21st Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 22nd Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 23rd Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 24th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 25th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 26th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 27th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 28th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 29th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 30th Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 31st Mar 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
April 2025
- Tue 1st Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 2nd Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 3rd Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 4th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 5th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 6th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 7th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 8th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 9th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 10th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 11th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 12th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 13th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 14th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 15th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 16th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 17th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 18th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 19th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 20th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 21st Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 22nd Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 23rd Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Thu 24th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 25th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 26th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 27th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 28th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Tue 29th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Wed 30th Apr 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)
May 2025
- Thu 1st May 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Fri 2nd May 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sat 3rd May 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Sun 4th May 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm) - Mon 5th May 2025
(10:00am to 4:30pm)