FIVE new exhibitions about botanical art and plants in London

There are five new art exhibitions opening in London in September and October - which are listed below in order of their opening date. ​

Livistona chinensis (Chinese fan palm), attributed to Vishnuprasad, c. 1825

The Exhibitions are:

• The Garrison Chapel: The Transylvania Florilegium and an exhibition of paintings by Queen Marie of Romania (18 September – 12 October 2025)
• Garden Museum: Rory McEwen Nature's Song (8 Oct 2025 - 25 Jan 2026)
• Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (11 October 2025 to 12 April 2026) 
  • (Galleries 1–4) Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art
  • (Gallery 5) THE SINGH TWINS: Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire 
  • (Gallery 6) A celebration of India’s rich biodiversity - from the Shirley Sherwood Collection

This post is by way of an alert and a short summary of each exhibition.
​There will be follow up posts about each of the exhibitions including reviews when I get to see them!

​The Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks

The entrance to the Garrison Chapel at Chelsea Barracks. Photo credit Jack Hobhouse.

The first to open - this week - are the two exhibitions in the same gallery.

VENUE: The King’s Foundation’s Garrison Chapel Gallery, Chelsea Barracks, SW1 - in liaison with the The Romanian Cultural Institute. 
DATES: 19th September- until 12th October

• The Transylvania Florilegium - This was created by experienced and selected botanical artists, working on field trips at the properties of King Charles III in Viscri and Zalanpatak. ​ I last wrote about this following the exhibition at the Romanian Insititute in 2018 - see Transylvania Florilegium at the Romanian Cultural Institute
• Marie Of Romania, Artist Queen is a brand new exhibition of a selection of watercolours by Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938) She was a talented botanical artist and illustrator, and some of the plants she painted are to be found in the Florilegium, painted by botanical artists over 100 years later. It includes a talk by its curator on 3rd October.

Garden Museum, Lambeth

McEwen’s luminous depictions of flowers, leaves, butterflies, and decaying vegetables breathed new life into the genre. Infusing modern creativity into the centuries-old genre with his distinctive use of light and space, McEwen blurred the boundaries between botanical illustration and modern art.

Rory McEwen Nature's Song
VENUE: Garden Museum
DATES: 8 Oct 2025 - 25 Jan 2026

This is an opportunity for you to see the botanical paintings of Rory McEwen (1932-1982) who was one of the best of botanical painters in the 20th century. (link to my dedicated page on this website) 

He is very special because changed the course of contemporary botanical art and inspired a whole new generation of artists. When you see his paintings, you'll understand why. McEwen was also a skilled musician and pivotal figure in the 1960s folk music revival movement. The exhibition will explore McEwen’s botanical works alongside his experiments in abstract and sculpture, and personal items including photos, letters, paintbrushes, works in progress, his guitar and musical ephemera.

The exhibition will include two paintings now owned by the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art

Two paintings by Rory McEwen - 'Old Fashioned Rose Beech Mast & Clover Leaf' and 'Old English Florist Tulip' (Shirley Sherwood Collection)

Exhibitions about India at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew

(Left) The Singh Twins and (right) Flora Indica

VENUE: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Garden Kew
DATES: 11 October 2025 - 12 April 2026

The focus is on exploring Kew’s colonial past and its role in the business of the British Empire. These exhibitions

• explore the connections between traditional Indian Art and contemporary art practice. 
  
• recovers the lost stories of remarkable artwork
  
• illuminates the legacy of traditional Indian art.

Galleries 1–4) Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art

This is a world first public display of never-before-seen work by historical Indian botanical artists. Flora Indica is a collection of 52 previously lost botanical artworks seen for the first time here as part of a comprehensive collection. For the first time, and wherever possible, the exhibition will attribute and celebrate these artists as vital co-creators, of both astonishing artwork and burgeoning colonial botanical knowledge.

These botanical watercolours, created between 1790 and 1850, painted by Indian artists, were commissioned by British botanists, many of whom were employed by the East India Company (EIC) to document India’s rich plant diversity. Some of these, including poppies, cotton and a range of herbs and spices, would go on to deliver great economic benefits for the British Empire.

Flora Indica, co-curated by Dr Henry Noltie and Dr Sita Reddy, will take visitors on a journey which explores the environments in which these master artists worked, encompassing areas which today cover India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The style of works represents a fusion of traditional Indian artistry and techniques with botanists’ demands for naturalism and scientific specificity.

You can read more about botanical art in India in the past on my page dedicated to Famous Asian Botanical Artists ​600-1900 (which I will be updating in the context of this exhibition)

(Gallery 5) THE SINGH TWINS: Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire

​This solo exhibition in Gallery 5 has been commissioned by Kew as a contemporary artistic response to its Flora Indica botanical drawings and the Economic Botany collections. It will feature a range of existing and never-before-seen artworks by internationally renowned contemporary British artists The Singh Twins.

Collectively titled Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire, the Twins’ works will highlight diverse narratives around empire, colonialism and their legacies, inspired by the collections and the wider story of botany. These works will

• explore interrelationships between the histories of botany, conflict and enslavement,
• interrogate the wealth which the British Empire amassed from the development of economic botany: the hunting, cultivation and trade of plants, including cotton, spices and dyes — something which botanists from Kew were directly involved in.

The exhibition themes are explored through digital mixed-medium artworks combining Indian miniature aesthetics with elements inspired by western traditions in art that have floral iconography and symbolism at their heart.
(i.e. NOT conventional botanical art)

Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum, Phansakdi Chakkaphak

(Gallery 6) A celebration of India’s rich biodiversity - from the Shirley Sherwood Collection

India has a rich and diverse biodiversity. 

• Several of the world’s most remarkable and beautiful flowers make their homes in India. Examples include: rhododendrons in the Himalaya, abundant orchids in forests and lotuses in rivers, lakes and marshes.
  
• Various plants also take on a large cultural and religious significance. Marigolds, roses and the sacred lotus, for example, carry meaningful symbolism and are used extensively in ceremonies and festivals taking place across India.

Featuring remarkable artworks from The Shirley Sherwood Collection, this exhibition invites you to explore the country’s most important crops, notorious natives and emblematic plants. ​

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