Flowers. Art from the Renaissance to Artificial Intelligence

Fragile and powerful, flowers speak a universal language that spans centuries and cultures, recounting emotions, celebrating beauty, silently protesting and guarding millennia-old stories.

In over 90 works - including the famous Honeycomb Head of the Emperor Hadrian by Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny, Meadow by Studio Drift and Forest Flux/Waldwandel by Tamiko Thiel and/p - Flowers. Art from the Renaissance to Artificial Intelligence takes us on a journey through five centuries of art, culture and innovation. Coming from 10 different countries around the world and from prestigious institutions including the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Petit Palais and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, alongside botanical and scientific collections from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London and the Museo Civico di Zoologia in Rome, works also come from illustrious lenders such as the Galleria Borghese, the Biblioteca Casanatense, the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to demonstrate how flowers are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists of all ages.

Curated by Franziska Stöhr with Roger Diederen, in collaboration with Suzanne Landau, the exhibition, hosted at the Chiostro del Bramante, proposes an itinerary in which the inexhaustible evocative power of flowers emerges, capable of uniting art, science and technology in a universal tale that spans the centuries: from masterpieces by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Girolamo Pini, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris to contemporary sculptures by Ai Weiwei and Kapwani Kiwanga with their experiments with digital technologies, Studio Drift, Kehinde Wiley, Miguel Chevalier, Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny and Rebecca Louise Law and her immersive installation.

A sensory journey that comes to life in an exhibition that combines works from the past and present, offering a new interpretation of the role that flowers have played, and still play today, in the evolution of our history and society. The works featured range from the 16th to the 21st century. Paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, tapestries, photographs, site-specific installations, augmented reality and artificial intelligence works intertwine to tell the story of the encounter between art and nature.

The exterior of the Chiostro will also be the star of the exhibition, completely transformed into a true earthly paradise by an installation by Austin Young (Fallen Fruit).

The Sensory Experiences

Two sensory experiences are presented within Flowers: an immersive path created by Coldiretti in the heart of the Chiostro del Bramante, where Italian trees, shrubs and flowers tell the value of biodiversity and the role of urban greenery in improving the quality of life, and an olfactory path conceived by Campomarzio70 dedicated to the four noble flowers used in perfumery - orange, jasmine, rose and tuberose - each one present in as many rooms.

The Podcast

Interpreted by the intense voice of Alessandro Preziosi, the podcast explores the works with a unique approach, giving space to emblematic words that reveal their deepest meanings.

Climate change and the loss of biodiversity pose unprecedented challenges, necessarily making Flowers a manifesto for sustainability, proposing works that invite us to look at nature with a fresh eye and question our responsibilities. Each installation, therefore, tells a story, combining the visionary approach of the artists with urgent issues such as the adaptation of ecosystems, the impact of industry on the environment and the need to preserve biodiversity.

Cover: Austin Young (Fallen Fruit), Temple of Flowers (The Little Paradise), 2025. Commissioned by Chiostro del Bramante for the exhibition Flowers. Courtesy Austin Young.
Photo: Giovanni de Angelis