Rachel Ruysch (Dutch, 1664/5–1750), Nosegay on a Marble Plinth, c. 1695, oil on canvas, The Norton Simon Foundation
Rachel Ruysch painted insects crawling toward petals in 17th-century Amsterdam. Diego Rivera knelt a Mexican girl before calla lilies in 1941. Paul Cézanne arranged tulips in a green earthenware vase, then studied them until the colors seemed to vibrate.
On Friday, January 23, the Norton Simon Museum will guide 20 visitors through these works and more in a one-hour tour titled “Flora: Flowers and Plants in the Norton Simon Museum Collection.” The free program, led by a museum educator, traces how artists across three centuries used botanical subjects for purposes ranging from scientific observation to social commentary.
The tour draws on the Pasadena museum’s holdings of European and American art spanning 2,000 years. Among the works visitors may encounter: Ruysch’s “Nosegay on a Marble Plinth,” a small canvas from around 1695 in which cultivated and wild flowers rest on a stone ledge while insects approach the blooms. Ruysch was one of Holland’s outstanding flower painters and the first female Dutch artist to achieve international recognition.
Rivera’s “The Flower Vendor (Girl with Lilies),” painted in 1941 and given to the museum by actor Cary Grant, depicts a young Mexican woman embracing calla lilies—flowers traditionally associated with funerals and death. The figure’s concealed face elevates her to a symbol, according to museum materials, representing both the beauty of Mexico’s native cultures and the suffering of its indigenous peoples.
Cézanne’s approach differed from both. The French Post-Impressionist seldom painted tulips, but his “Tulips in a Vase” from 1888-1890 demonstrates his method of building compositions through color and structure. Familiar fruits on the table counterbalance the bright blooms.
The tour meets in the Entrance Gallery at 1 p.m. and runs until 2 p.m. Space is limited to 20 participants. Registration opens at the Information Desk when the museum opens at noon and is offered first come, first served.
The Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 West Colorado Boulevard., Pasadena. Museum admission is $20 for adults and $15 for seniors 62 and older. Members, students with valid ID, and visitors 18 and under enter free. Parking is also free.
More information is available at nortonsimon.org or by calling 626-449-6840.
The oaks and sycamores along Colorado Boulevard have witnessed 50 years of visitors passing through the museum’s doors. Inside, the flowers—painted and preserved—bloom still.
