Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture at the Saatchi Gallery review

The timing of this exhibition could not be better. At the end of a long winter, and egging on London’s reluctant spring, the Saatchi Gallery brings us FLOWERS in full bloom (in an arty kind of way).

The exhibition covers one large gallery on the ground floor for a bespoke installation by Rebecca Louise Law and then spreads over two floors into nine gallery spaces showcasing over 500 artworks and objects. It seemed an ambitious exhibition to present the symbolism and representation of flowers in art & culture given the breadth and depth of the history.

La Fleur Morte by Rebecca Louise Law. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

The thematic division of each room was helpful and structured my reflection of how we interact and relate to flowers at different points in our lives personally and communally be it through art, sculpture, fashion, photography, film or music. BUT there is no real attempt to look in depth at the significance or meaning of the flowers and why certain flowers would have been chosen over others by the creative using it for inspiration. As all florists know each flower has its meaning.

There is no denying flowers are amongst the most beautiful and vibrant natural phenomena thus became the natural world’s muse for artists across the globe. The subject of flowers is of course universal, and is to be appreciated by all. I have no doubt this will be a popular exhibition.

I saw Rebecca Louise Law ‘s Life in Death installation at Kew Gardens in the autumn of 2017 inspired by Egyptian funeral garlands and was entranced by its lingering beauty. I was most looking forward to her bespoke installation piece La Fleur Morte. The piece is given a stunning double height gallery space and features 100,000 dried flowers for visitors to explore either by meandering underneath or going upstairs to get an elevated view from the balcony above.  It is mesmerising and haunting in equal measure. A reminder to observe and appreciate what we are given on this earth. There is a wonderful subtlety here that is sometimes lacking in the rest of the exhibition.

In Full Bloom. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

Flowers continue to blossom through the gallery and up the stairs with bold floral wall papers. The first room - Roots, seeks to demonstrate the contemporary art of flowers taking its roots from 17th & 18th century Dutch Flower Paintings.  Subsequently the 19th Century Arts & Crafts movement included flora into furniture, books, architecture etc. Rather unnecessarily there is a wallpapered poster of Van Gough’s Irises and then we are offered artists that worked with flowers such as William Morris in textiles, Elizabeth Blackadder hand-coloured etchings of poppies and a Tom Wesselmann pop art style still life. Overall, this room lacked cohesiveness, and I felt keen to move on.

The second room: In Full Bloom features some big names of the art world from Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama to Jeff Koons and Christo’s Wrapped Roses (1968) visible in cellophane (turned yellow with time). From Michael Craig Martin, known for his pop art transformation of everyday objects, we find 6 of his Flower Series; Iris, Rose, Tulip, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Carnation, (2023), on display which interestingly became a new subject for him as a result of national lockdowns. This room is an explosion of colour but the eye catchers here are the three silver sculptures in the middle by Ann Carrington. A static jug suspended in mid-air with flowers spilling out and over the pedestal and a huge arrangement of flowers, all made entirely from silverware collected from boot fairs and antique markets all fascinatingly manipulated and merit close inspection. 

Flowers in Fashion. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

Upstairs you enter the world of fashion influenced by flowers where two British icons are featured: Vivienne Westwood (& husband/designer Andrea Kronthaler) and Mary Quant. Quant’s signature design being the five petalled daisy also worked with Liberty and paisley fabrics, a few such outfits are on display. Marikemo, the Finish design house, synonymous with large floral prints had an area with several panels of their fabrics on show. This room does not ignore the proliferation of tattoos as fashion/art and features Daniel the Gardener who specialises in freehand botanical motifs. A couple of his fine art painting are on show as well as a short film showing people bearing his art on their bodies. A few Andy Warhols are thrown in the mix and as all good fashion shows do, the room finishes with a wedding dress by Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli.

Flowers in Photography and Sculpture. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

The fourth room includes works by contemporary photographers and sculptors. It made for a rather pedestrian display save for the main sculpture which stopped everyone in their tracks. The Machinery of Enchantment (2025) by William Darrell attracted humans to the mechanical moving flowers in the way insects are drawn to flowers for pollination.

Flowers in music, film and literature. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

The room of music, film and literature had an impressive collection if record covers bearing flowers on their cover in one way or another with the likes of Prince’s Lovesexy cover - a montage combining close up flower photography of an orchid and a touched up nude Prince. Quite the scandal back in the day. The subject of film and flower is touched upon by film posters incorporating flowers, the most obvious connection would be the poster of American Beauty the immediate association with deep red roses. For literature - flower connections is a display of books enclosed in two long glass cases in the middle of the room. There is not a lot of depth of the examination of flowers in these mediums but an entertaining wander none the less.

Miguel Chevalier, Extra-Natural. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery. Image credit Matt Chung.

Saatchi’s Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture may not be deep or erudite but you can go to the National Gallery for that. It felt fresh and contemporary - everything you want in a bouquet!

Date: 11 February - 5 May 2025. Location: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York Square, King’s Road, London, SW34RY. Price: from £19, concessions available. Book now.

Review by Natascha Milsom