Flower Power

Why is the Virgin Mary often depicted with a lily? Why does Eve pick an apple? And why was a tulip the cause of the first stock market crash in the seventeenth century? Works from the Gothic period to the present shed light on the symbolic meanings of plants and reveal how deeply nature is embedded in our cultural concepts and practices.

Plants provide us with food and the air we breathe. Not only do they make our material existence possible, they have also always carried meanings and messages. In many cultures they are symbols of love, life, death, or transience.

Drawing on works by prominent Austrian and international artists in addition to cultural-historical objects and natural-science findings, the exhibition portrays the cultural history of around eighteen selected edible, useful, and ornamental plants. It outlines how the origin, dissemination, and use of plants have altered the world, why wars were fought or people were enslaved because of plants. Apples, lilies, sunflowers, and cotton are represented in the exhibition, along with wine, tobacco, and the crown imperial, a plant that became a symbol of power and wealth in the Baroque period. It was planted in the gardens of European nobles as a sign of their position and influence. Its majestic appearance and the demanding care it required underline the high status of those who could afford this plant.

The exhibition is a visually powerful homage to the plant world. It addresses the importance, significance, and influence of plants on people’s lives and seeks to contribute to a deeper appreciation of nature as a whole.

The exhibition presents works by important artists from various centuries, such as Lienhart Astl Umkreis, Peter Atanasov, Thomas Baumgärtel, Renate Bertlmann, Albert Birkle, Michaela Brückmüller, Peter Candid, Carlo Cignani, Brigitte Corell, Jan van Dalen, Gunter Damisch, Hugo Darnaut, Regula Dettwiler, Johann Baptist Durach, Astrid Esslinger, Adolf Fassbender, Thomas Feuerstein, Norbert Fleischmann, Sonia Gansterer, Dorothee Golz, Andreas Gursky, Gerhard Haderer, Peter Hauenschild, Markus Huemer, Lisa Huber, George Hurrell, Anna Jermolaewa, Johanna Kandl, Josef Kern, Ronald Kodritsch, Leopold Kogler, Herlinde Kölbl, Johann Knapp, Barbara Krafft, Paul Kranzler, Hans Kupelwieser, Maria Lassnig, Edgar Lissel, Franziska Maderthaner, Elfriede Mejchar, Abraham Mignon, Alois Mosbacher, Ursula Neugebauer, Michael Pacher Umkreis, Margit Palme, Klaus Pichler, Monika Pichler, Elisabeth Plank, Michael Powolny, Norbert Pümpel, Johann Baptist Reiter, Johann Michael Rottmayr, Bianca Regl, Bettina Rheims, Frenzi Rigling, Martin Johann Schmidt, genannt Kremser Schmidt, Gabriele Schöne, Luzia Simons, Stefan Simony, Joseph Karl Stieler, Erich Sokol, Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Carl Spitzweg, Ignaz Stern, Bernhard Tragut, Anna Tischler-Weber, Gerold Tusch, Timm Ulrichs, Maja Vukoje, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Andy Warhol, Joseph Winterhalter der Jüngere and Leopold Zinnögger.

Algae, apple, banana, cotton, grain, spices, poisonous plants, coffee, crown imperial, potato, lily, poppy, rose, sunflower, tobacco, tomato, tulip, wine

Curators: Gerda Ridler, Martin Pfosser