To look at the flower paintings of Vincent van Gogh is to enter a world of overwhelming energy, movement and color. The New York Botanical Garden recognizes this and is now presenting Van Gogh’s Flowers, which highlights the profound effect of flowers and other flora on van Gogh’s art. This spring/summer show encourages us to appreciate the power in van Gogh’s paintings by looking at them from different perspectives.
Iris, Perennial Garden, New York Botanical Garden, June 12
NYBG commissioned several artists to create works influenced by van Gogh: Catherine Borowski and Lee Baker of Graphic Rewilding (Irises On Yellow Columns; All His Flowers in the Round), Amie J. Jacobsen (four large-scale sculptures inspired by four of van Gogh’s iconic floral paintings), and Cyril Lancelin (Pyramid Sunflowers).
I visited the exhibition on June 12 and 15 and filmed and photographed much of the show. This video takes you through the installations and the flower displays. The video is accompanied by music by Erik Satie, Emmanuel Chabrier and Maurice Ravel. These pieces were composed around the time van Gogh was painting many of the canvases included in the NYBG show.
Reflecting on Irises
The first display in the Enid Haupt Conservatory is Irises On Yellow Columns by Graphic Rewilding. This sculpture is beautifully reflected in the pool (although I was not impressed by the vinyl decals on the floor, which I found static and uninviting).
Irises On Yellow Columns, Catherine Borowski and Lee Baker, Graphic Rewilding
The painting that inspired the Graphic Rewilding installation was van Gogh’s Irises (1889), in the Getty Museum. After I saw the NYBG show, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to re-experience that museum’s van Gogh collection. Here is his Irises in the Met Museum, a wonderful painting that captures so much movement and color. While I would have enjoyed seeing live irises near the Graphic Rewilding sculpture, I do understand that bearded irises were not blooming at the time I was at the show. So I’ve included a photo of the irises I did see later in my visit in the Perennial Garden.
Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Irises, New York Botanical Garden, June 12
Sculpted Not-So-Still Lifes
Amie J. Jacobsen’s four large-scale sculptures, inspired by four of van Gogh’s floral paintings, are “framed” by foliage and surrounded by flowers. The pieces range between 5 and 8 feet in height. The signage shows the van Gogh painting that inspired each sculpture. Below you can see my photographs of these sculptures, plus photographs of van Gogh’s paintings I saw in the Met Museum and reproductions I have in books.
Oleanders: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Vincent van Gogh, Oleanders, 1888, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Irises: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Detail: Irises: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Imperial Fritillaries: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Roses: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Detail: Roses: Van Gogh Eren, 2025
Signage showing Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Detail: Irises: Van Gogh Eren, Amie J. Jacobsen, 2025
Vincent van Gogh, Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase, 1886, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Vincent van Gogh, Roses, 1890, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Jacobsen’s sculpture reflects the original pink color of the roses in the painting. That color has since faded.
The flowers surrounding the Jacobsen sculptures are stunning, and many are flowers van Gogh might have seen. This field poppy and the slide show that follows offer some of my favorite flower photos from my visit.
Field poppy. Van Gogh’s depiction of poppies as dabs of paint can be seen at the bottom of his cypress painting at the Met Museum.
Reimagining the Hospital Garden at Arles
In 1889, van Gogh spent much of the year at a hospital in Arles, France, where he painted the view from his window. The botanical garden has a room in the conservatory that suggests this garden, and as you will see in the video, also suggests the yellow-trimmed walkway in the courtyard.
NYBG’s circle garden, after Vincent van Gogh’s Garden at the Hospital at Arles, 1889
Signage for the circle garden at NYBG.
The Joy of Sunflowers
Van Gogh wrote to Theo van Gogh, his brother, in 1888: “Sunshine, a light which, for want of a better word I can only call yellow—pale sulfur yellow, pale lemon gold . . . How beautiful yellow is!” It is thrilling to look out over so many sunflowers in front of the conservatory. Cyril Lancelin‘s Pyramid Sunflowers welcomes visitors into the garden, with the swaying flowers and the buzzing bees.
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1887, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Pyramid Sunflowers, Cyril Lancelin
Fascinating sunflower facts in the sunflower garden.
Detail: Pyramid Sunflowers
Framed Flower Art in the Perennial Garden
In the garden outside the conservatory are several easels set up with flowers and foliage bursting through golden frames, a tribute to the attraction of artists to flowers and plants.
I love how the flowers and leaves spill over the gold frame.
Throughout the walk to the Enid Haupt Conservatory and elsewhere in the garden are quotes from Vincent van Gogh from his letters.
The Perennial Garden has exquisite flowers to savor, with the framed floral art nestled among the blooms. The selection of flowers will change during the run of Van Gogh’s Flowers depending on what plants are in season. I was so happy I was there when I could see the purple irises, when some of the peonies were still buds while others had opened fully, and when the clematis was climbing up the trellises. The photo below and those in the slide show that follows show some of the brilliant blossoms from mid-June.
Outside the NYBG gift shop is a fun sculpture of a painter’s palette, with the “paint” made of flowers. I didn’t note the artist who created it.
Vincent’s Subjects in the Round
The Graphic Rewilding sculpture in the fountain down the walk from the restaurant and gift shop was my last stop in the Van Gogh’s Flowers show. Other parts of the New York Botanical Garden are stunning (I am so attracted to the Thain Family Forest and the Rock Garden) and can make for a very full summer’s day visit. There are also special programs offered on some evenings. Van Gogh’s Flowers can be visited through October 26.
All His Flowers in the Round, Catherine Borowski and Lee Baker of Graphic Rewilding