Lilia & Tulipan

Sunah Choi, Diango Hernández, David Jablonowski, Victor Man, Rupprecht Matthies, Tobias Rehberger, Willem de Rooij, Julia Schmid, Roman Schramm, Anne Steinhagen.   

 The motif of flowers has a long tradition in art history, beginning as early as in Pompeian wall painting from around 20 BC, for here floral elements appear without individual flowers having a specific symbolic meaning. Finally, the lily occupies a special place in Christian iconography, because it stands for purity related to the figure of Mary. In the 17th century, the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 to 1625) became known for his colorful depictions of flowers, elaborately tied garlands and wreaths. In parallel, different flowers appear as an essential motif in many still lifes from this period and withered flowers, for example, stand for death, blooming flowers for life. In Impressionist painting, for example, Claude Monet’s water lily paintings contrast the age of the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of noisy big cities with tranquility and idyll.

In the 21st century, too, flowers appear as a motif in many works by contemporary artists. The group exhibition entitled “Lilia & Tulipan” presents paintings, installations, objects, photography, and video works by nationally and internationally renowned artists Sunah Choi, Diango Hernández, David Jablonowski, Victor Man, Rupprecht Matthies, Tobias Rehberger, Willem de Rooij, Julia Schmid, Roman Schramm, and Anne Steinhagen, who in different ways refer to current aspects of our time through the motif of flowers and plants.