Image: Kunsthalle Appenzell
Kunsthal Rotterdam’s 'Flowers Forever' is entering its closing stretch, with the exhibition on view until 30 August 2026. The presentation brings together more than 200 objects and looks at the cultural-historical significance of flowers across art, design, fashion and science, tracing how they have moved through ritual, symbolism, commerce and political meaning.
The exhibition is presented by Kunsthal Rotterdam and was initiated by Kunsthalle München in collaboration with the Rotterdam institution. According to the museum, this is the first time the exhibition has been shown in the Netherlands. It is structured in seven chapters that examine different ways flowers became embedded in culture, from religious and mythical imagery to modern commodity markets and contemporary digital environments.
Visitors enter the show through 'Calyx', the large installation by British artist Rebecca Louise Law, made from more than 100,000 dried flowers strung together. The exhibition then moves through themes that link floral imagery with social and scientific histories, including botanical drawings and herbariums from the 18th and 19th centuries, still-life painting, and works that address the circulation of knowledge, material culture and global exchange.
Among the works highlighted by the museum is 'Of Palimpsests and Erasure' by Dutch artist patricia kaersenhout, which responds to Maria Sibylla Merian’s 'Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium' (1705). The exhibition text also notes Merian’s role in documenting insects, flowers and plants of Suriname, while acknowledging that much of her knowledge came from enslaved Indigenous and African women. Other contemporary works include Anna Ridler’s video installation 'Mosaic Virus' and Tracey Bush’s collages made from discarded product packaging.
The exhibition also addresses flowers as political symbols. It includes cartoons and political posters, as well as Kapwani Kiwanga’s work 'The Marias', which uses paper reproductions of the peacock flower to reflect on different historical uses of the plant and the contrasting lives of women and enslaved African women in that period. The show also features Studio DRIFT’s kinetic sculpture 'Meadow' and Miguel Chevalier’s interactive installation 'Extra Natural', which presents a virtual garden brought to life through digital movement.
Alongside the exhibition, Kunsthal Rotterdam lists related activities connected to 'Flowers Forever', including 'Spido & Flowers Forever', 'Kunsthal Tours' and 'Flowers Forever Walk'. The exhibition catalogue, 'Flowers Forever. Bloemen in Kunst en Cultuur', is available from 27 March through the Kunsthal Shop and Kunsthal Webshop, and the institution says a Friends offer tied to the catalogue runs until 30 August 2026. 'Flowers Forever' remains on view at Kunsthal Rotterdam in Hal 2 until 30 August.
