Végétal - L'École de la beauté | Botanical - Observing Beauty
16 June | 4 September 

A new exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris explores the historic relationship between plants and creators. An exquisite example of South African sculptor, Nic Bladen's, botanical bronze sculpture, Aloe Ciliaris, is included in the exhibition initiated by the jewellery house, Chaumet. It includes some 400 works of art (spanning 5,000 years) that have been inspired by the world of botany.

The exhibition aims to build on and broaden the dialogue between science and art arising from our study, and in particular the drawings conserved in the collections belonging to Chaumet. Taking as its starting point man’s scrutiny of the plant world, a diverse range of objects, from natural history specimens to easel paintings, graphic arts, decorative arts and architecture, will bebrought together, like small gardens, and ordered taxonomically rather than historically. This will set up a dialectic between the water lilies of the pharaohs in the French national history museum’s collection and the interpretations of the manufacture de Sèvres; between Japanese watercolours of the Vilmorin herbarium’s collection and furniture by Gallé, and between vellum drawings by Redouté and the designs of Yves Saint Laurent. More than a dialogue between works of art and eclectic scientific objects, the exhibition pays tribute to the knowledge and techniques of artists.

– Marc Jeanson, curator and botanist

Visit Beaux-Arts de Paris website for visiting times and to book tickets. 

Visit Chaumet website to read more.

Read more about Nic Bladen and his work.