Van Gogh's Flowers at the New York Botanical Garden

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

Why? Because I Like Them!

““M-I-C
See you real soon!
K-E-Y
Why? Because we like you!”
”

— Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater

I take a lot of photos, and I have been going through them and have found quite a few that I think I should share. I have tried to come up with a theme for a blog posting. Are all the subjects birds? Well, most are, but there is a bunny. Are the birds taking a bath? Well, some are, but some are perching. Are the photos all from spring migration? No, not really. The earliest photo is from January, the latest from June 3. Were all taken in Central Park? Well, most of them, but two on Staten Island and one in Peekskill, NY.

So what do all these photos have in common? I like them!

Sometimes we just need to see some photos that interest us and make us happy. So here are some photos that have brought me joy.

This first photo, of a young bald eagle perched on a yacht club piling, has been on my phone for months, but I have not yet posted it. There will be a blog showing Eagles on Ice, soon, I hope.

Bald eagle, Peekskill, NY, January 11

I like photos that tell a story, as these two photos do. I was at Mt. Loretto Unique Area on June 3, and there was a cottontail rabbit on the pavilion meadow, frozen in fear. Looking up, I saw the cause: a bald eagle perched at the top of a nearby tree. The eagle seemed to be watching the bunny. After I photographed the bunny, from a distance, I took one step closer and the bunny hopped to safety.

Frozen cottontail rabbit, Staten Island, June 3

Bald eagle watching frozen bunny, June 3

I missed a lot of spring migration, but I was fortunate to see and photograph several pine warblers in Central Park. Here are four photos of three pine warblers, the first taken in February at the feeders, the second (same bird) at the feeders, on April 13. The other two birds were photographed at Belvedere Castle, also on April 13.

A trip to the Pool in Central Park on May 25 was rewarded with photos of a green heron and a black-crowned night heron. The slide show below shows the green heron.

Black-crowned night heron, Central Park, May 25

Black-crowned night heron, May 25

I am very fond of bathing birds. These photos are splish-splash photos, most taken at what birders call the “bathing rock,” which is just south of the Pool in Central Park.

Very clean gray catbird, the Pool, Central Park, May 25

Cedar waxwing, Central Park, May 25

American robin, Central Park, May 25

Baltimore oriole, Central Park, May 19

Baltimore oriole, Central Park, May 25

American goldfinch, Central Park, May 19

Hermit thrush, Central Park, April 13

Sometimes a bird poses enough that I take a lot of photos and then I have to choose one. Sometimes choosing just one gives me a headache, and I end up posting two!

Northern flicker, Central Park, April 13

Red-winged blackbird, Central Park, May 25

Northern cardinal, Central Park, April 13

Northern flicker, April 13

Red-winged blackbird, May 25

Northern cardinal, April 13

One nice thing about having a Web site and a blog is that I can be very selfish about what I post. The real joy in photographing birds, by the way, comes from actually being outside in a park or on a beach, watching these birds be birds. So when I like a photo, I probably have memories of taking the photo that you can’t know, but that to me come through in the picture. The nuthatch and sparrow below are birds that I spent some time watching, and I hope I captured enough personality of each bird to share my joy in watching them.

White-breasted nuthatch, Central Park, April 13

White-throated sparrow, Central Park, April 13

I put together a slide-show video where you can watch all these birds, plus a few more, fly by while listening to a Chopin etude.

I imagine I will be posting more “Mickey Mouse Club” photos in the future, since I edit photos when I get around to them and sometimes just need to put them out there. Coming soon on the themed-blog calendar, I hope: Eagles on Ice, Van Gogh’s Flowers at the New York Botanical Garden, more entries in the Jamaica Bay series, beach baby photos from Nickerson Beach, and even more eagle photos. If you want to be notified when the next blog is published, sign up below.

Tiptoed Tulips

“Come tiptoe through the tulips with me.”

— Al Dubin, "Gold Diggers of Broadway," 1929

When tulips are in their glory, there are few flowers that can match their brilliance. Anyone who has been to Keukenhof in the Netherlands can attest to that (I’ve been twice, and yep, they are magnificent). But this spring, I wasn’t able to check out New York City’s tulip gardens in their prime as I have in past years. The first day I was able to take my camera to visit the community gardens in Riverside Park was May 2, and I used that opportunity to check out the tulip offerings.

While I did see some tulips in their prime, I was able to photograph more of what I call “tiptoed tulips,” the ones that have been through their “how gorgeous” phase yet have continued to be interesting in their more distressed phase.

Tulips in their glory, Riverside Park, May 2

A truly lovely tiptoed tulip, Riverside Park, May 2

Check out some more tiptoed tulips. All photos were taken on May 2 with my Sony A7 RIV camera, using a 24-70 lens.

I did see a few more “untiptoed” tulips, and I hope you find these as interesting as I did.

The community gardens in Riverside Park at 89th Street are so special, showcasing the floral imagination of fellow New Yorkers who appreciate how satisfying creating floral art with mulch and dirt and seeds and seedlings can be. On May 2, there were other flowers available for my viewing pleasure, and I photographed some of these, too.

Azalea blooms, Riverside Park, May 2

Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris)

Bells of Ireland

Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

I suppose it is only fitting to end this post with what I might call a “tiptoed fritillaria.”

Fritillaria imperialis