The holding image for the V&A's Flower panel discussion

You really must watch our Flower panel talk at the V&A

The expert panel pulled in a wide and varied international audience to hear the chat about our beautiful new book

One of the Pandemic’s saving graces has been the way in which the natural world has carried on, obvious to our concerns. Our new book, Flower: Exploring the World in Bloom celebrates mankind’s appreciation of floral beauty, widening and deepening this aspect of nature. This exquisitely conceived new title brings together some of the most important, impressive and beautiful images ever committed to canvas, film, sculpture or screen. These vary from classic works by such artists as Picasso, Alexander Calder, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, through to contemporary masterpieces by Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter and Takashi Murakami.

Of course, many of us are unable to meet up in person to discuss the joy to be found in petal appreciation, but that didn’t prevent the Victoria & Albert Museum in London holding its online panel discussion in honour of our new publication.

VAFlower

The event, with took place on Thursday 5 November, saw Shane Connolly, Royal Warrant Holder to HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales; Gill Saunders, Senior Curator of Prints, Word and Image at the V&A; and specialist flower grower Polly Nicholson take viewers on a journey across continents and cultures, to discover the endless ways in which artists and image makers have employed floral motifs over time.

Flower
Flower

This ticketed talk was one of the V&A's most successful virtual events ever, drawing in participants from the UK, North America, Spain, Sweden, Australia, and beyond. If you didn’t catch it live you can now watch the whole thing above, and to see the images in greater detail, with deeply considered commentary and context, buy a copy of Flower here.