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Van Gogh's Flowers Take Root at NYBG

NYBG translated Vincent van Gogh's flowers into living displays, monumental sculpture, graphic installations, painting programs, evening events, and a drone show.

Red, orange, white, and pink flowers surround a yellow garden structure inside the conservatory
New York Botanical Garden / TheNakedNYC source archive

The New York Botanical Garden presented Van Gogh's Flowers from May 24 through October 26, 2025, translating Vincent van Gogh's botanical subjects into living plantings, monumental sculpture, graphic environments, and participatory programs. The exhibition joined horticulture with work by Graphic Rewilding, Amie Jacobsen, and Cyril Lancelin, treating Van Gogh's flowers not as fixed museum images but as forms that could be replanted, enlarged, entered, and illuminated.

TheNakedNYC Coverage

YouTube: Inside Van Gogh's Flowers

TheNakedNYC documented the conservatory plantings, iris installations, and monumental sunflower field.

Instagram: From Canvas to Garden

Living flowers and contemporary installations reinterpreted Van Gogh's botanical imagery throughout NYBG.

Photo Gallery: Van Gogh's Flowers at NYBG

Cyril Lancelin enlarged Van Gogh's most familiar flower into a walk-through sculptural field. · New York Botanical Garden / TheNakedNYC source archive
The Graphic Rewilding founders translated floral imagery into bold public-scale graphics. · New York Botanical Garden / TheNakedNYC source archive
Graphic Rewilding's saturated panels carried Van Gogh's irises into architectural space. · New York Botanical Garden / TheNakedNYC source archive
A three-dimensional floral display placed a planted interpretation beside Van Gogh's painted source. · New York Botanical Garden / TheNakedNYC source archive

What to Know

The Hospital Garden Became a Living Room

Inside the Haupt Conservatory, horticulturists recreated the garden Van Gogh painted at the hospital in Arles in 1889, combining architectural cues with changing beds of living plants.

Sunflowers Became Monumental Sculpture

Cyril Lancelin installed giant sunflowers on the conservatory lawn among real plantings. Visitors could walk through the repeated forms rather than viewing them from a single frontal position.

Three Contemporary Practices Expanded the Tribute

Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski of Graphic Rewilding supplied large, saturated floral graphics. Amie Jacobsen developed three-dimensional work, while Lancelin used repetition and scale to create immersive sculpture.

Visitors Could Make Their Own Work

Plein Air Drop-In and Paint sessions invited participants to work outdoors from flowers and landscape, connecting the exhibition's spectacle to Van Gogh's sustained observation of the natural world.

Starry Nights Extended the Show After Dark

Selected evenings added music, food, drinks, and a Van Gogh-inspired drone presentation—the first drone show staged by a New York City cultural institution. The official NYBG archive preserves exhibition information.

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