Having opened on February 14th, 2025, and running until January 18th, 2026, Flowers - Art from the Renaissance to Artificial Intelligence will be on display at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome, Italy. The exhibition, which was co-curated by Roger Diederen and Franziska Stöhr with Suzanne Landau, provides a sensory exploration of five centuries of art, culture, and invention related to the flower industry and, more generally, the natural world.
Chiostro del Bramante's Flowers - Balancing Sustainability, Botany, and Beauty
'Flowers - Art from the Renaissance to Artificial Intelligence' presents a journey where the endless power of flowers emerges. The show brings together art, science, and technology, creating a universal narrative that spans the centuries: from the masterpieces of Jan Brueghel to Ai Weiwei and the latest experimentation with digital technologies in contemporary art.
Fragile and powerful, flowers speak a universal language that transcends centuries and cultures. They narrate emotions, celebrate the beauty of natural life, silently protest, and preserve age-old tales. It is precisely to them that the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome dedicates an extraordinary exhibition.
A glimpse of the AI works and installations
The exhibition displays over ninety artworks, coming from ten different countries around the world: the Chiostro del Bramante has indeed collaborated with prestigious institutions such as the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Petit Palais, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, alongside the botanical and scientific collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London and the Museo Civico di Zoologia in Rome. Notable lenders include the Galleria Borghese, the Biblioteca Casanatense, and the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.
Celebrating and Noticing the Power of Flowers
The exhibition is a dynamic show featuring paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, hangings, photographs, site-specific installations, and other pieces that utilize augmented reality and artificial intelligence. The space is quite literally flourishing with colors, perfumes, and idyllic sounds.
Natalia de Marco, Artistic Director of the Chiostro del Bramante shares:
"Flowers are more than just decorative elements. They are universal symbols that represent every aspect of life: from endurance to spirituality, from love to conflict, from science to ecology.”
The masterpieces on display span from the 16th to the 21st century. Paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, tapestries, photographs, site-specific installations, and pieces using augmented reality and artificial intelligence intertwine to narrate the encounter between art and nature. Among the Masters exhibited are Jan Brueghel the Elder, depicting flowers as silent protagonists in a vast symbolic universe, suspended between sacred and profane; Girolamo Pini and his extraordinary attention to botanical detail; Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris with their delicate floral representations, evoking an ethereal beauty typical of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Alongside these historical works, visitors will see Ai Weiwei’s and Kapwani Kiwanga’s contemporary installations, where flowers become a metaphor for resistance, highlighting the social and political challenges of our time and the past. Studio Drift seduces the public with their technological installations inspired by natural processes, while Kehinde Wiley offers an interpretation of the floral theme.
Miguel Chevalier explores the question of the naturalness and artificiality of flowers with his installation, and Rebecca Louise Law builds a fascinating corridor in which visitors will be surrounded by flowers, presenting a sensory experience as unique as the olfactory journey, hosted along the exhibition path and the botanical walk, hosted in the upper loggia. Even the exterior of the Chiostro del Bramante will take center stage, completely transformed into an earthly paradise thanks to the installation by Austin Young (Fallen Fruit).
If You’re in Rome, Give It a Go!
At a historical moment in which climate change and biodiversity loss confront us with unprecedented challenges, 'Flowers' becomes a manifesto for sustainability. The works presented, indeed, invite the public to look at nature from a new perspective, asking them to think about their responsibilities.
Each installation has a story to tell, merging the artists’ idealistic approach with urgent themes such as the ability of ecosystems to adapt, the industry's impact on the environment, and the need to preserve biodiversity.
If you're interested in attending, please note that the opening hours are as follows: Monday to Friday, 10 am to 8 pm; Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays, 10 am to 9 pm. You can buy your tickets directly on Chiostro Del Bramante's website.
Photos by @chiostrodelbramante_roma.
