Image: Château de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison
The Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau will present 'Roses & Pivoines' from 13 May to 3 August 2026 at the Château de Bois-Préau in Rueil-Malmaison, France. Announced as a spring exhibition, the project is framed as a tribute to Joséphine and her passion for botany, bringing together works by Pierre-Joseph Redouté and the contemporary German artist Thilo Westermann.
The exhibition places Redouté’s paintings, prints and watercolours alongside twenty of Westermann’s glass paintings, unique prints and drawings. Redouté, born in 1759 and died in 1840, was made Joséphine’s preferred painter in this field, according to the museum’s description. The exhibition’s title refers to the two flowers that structure the display, and the presentation is built around the visual and botanical dialogue between historic floral art and a contemporary practice.
Westermann’s method is described as a painstaking process in which he incises, point by point, a layer of black paint applied to the reverse of a glass plate to reveal the motif, before adding a white layer that suggests depth and shadow. The museum says this technique echoes Redouté’s meticulous approach, especially in his botanical watercolours and dotted engravings, which combine scientific precision with aesthetic research. The comparison is central to the show’s curatorial premise.
The exhibition also includes a small number of oil paintings on canvas by Redouté and artists around him, including Jan Frans van Dael and Gérard van Spaendonck. These works are used to show the continuation of the Flemish flower-painting tradition in Paris in the early 19th century. The museum is presenting the exhibition as part of its wider historical connection to Joséphine and the botanical culture associated with Malmaison.
A sensory element has been added through an olfactory device developed in collaboration with the École Supérieure du Parfum et de la Cosmétique. Two scents inspired by the rose and the peony will accompany visitors and extend their viewing of the works through fragrance. The museum notes that the visit continues in the gardens of Malmaison, where the blooms echo the subjects represented in the exhibition and recall the spirit Joséphine gave the site.
According to the museum, the exhibition is curated by Rémi Cariel, chief heritage curator responsible for paintings and graphic arts collections at the museum, with collaboration from Thilo Westermann. 'Roses & Pivoines' is listed as open daily except Tuesday, from 13:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:30. The exhibition venue is Château de Bois-Préau, with combined ticketing available for Malmaison’s permanent collections and the temporary exhibition at Bois-Préau.
