The new traveling exhibition "Botany in art. Plants in the collections of the Prado Museum" The exhibition at CaixaForum Girona proposes a shift in perspective: to stop seeing flowers, trees, and leaves as mere decoration and begin to read them as silent protagonists in the history of art. Through works from the Prado Museum, the exhibition focuses on how the plant world sustains religious, mythological, political, and emotional narratives that often go unnoticed.
Between March 25 and August 23, 2026The public can explore a route that combines paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, botanical photographs and olfactory stationsIn an exhibition that blends art history, science, and environmental awareness, the show will travel to other CaixaForum centers in cities such as Girona, after its run in Girona. Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Seville and Valenciaextending this botanical reading of the Prado collections across much of Spain.
An exhibition that makes the plants of the Prado Museum speak
CaixaForum Girona premieres an exhibition that brings together 53 pieces from the Prado National Museum —paintings, sculptures and decorative objects— selected by the gardener, landscape designer and researcher Eduardo Barba, Specialist identify plant species in works of art. The starting point is clear: in these works "There are no coincidences"And every flower, fruit, or tree is there to say something.
Far from a chronological journey, the exhibition seeks cross eras and schools through the presence of the same plant or shared symbolism. They are thus combined Flemish and Northern European, Italian, French and Spanish painting, with a special presence of the 19th century, alongside pieces of sculpture and decorative arts where plant motifs are integrated into moldings and frames.
The director of CaixaForum Girona, Anna Colomer, and the deputy director of Conservation and Research at the Prado, Alfonso PalacioThey highlighted during the presentation that an intense restoration effort had been carried out: around 90% of the works on display They have passed through the workshops of the Madrid museum before arriving in Girona. Many of them were in storage or external depots and now They are being considered as candidates for inclusion in the permanent collection after having been “rediscovered”.
This exhibition, curated by Barba in collaboration with Beatriz Sánchez Torija (Collection of Drawings, Prints and Photography of the Prado Museum), is part of the alliance between the "la Caixa" Foundation and the Prado National Museum, active since 2011 and responsible for other proposals such as "Objects speak" or "Art and myth. The gods of the Prado".
Looking at the margins: the fight against "plant blindness"
The heart of the project is an invitation to "to see what we don't usually see"The proposal suggests shifting attention from the large central figures in the paintings towards the plant details that inhabit the edges, backgrounds and corners of the compositions. There, among thistles, carnations or orange trees, symbolic keys are hidden that transform the reading of the works.
This close look connects with current debates on ecology, sustainability and environmental awarenessBarba champions the concept of "plant blindness"This tendency to overlook the importance of plants in our environment is troubling. For him, who defines himself as "primarily a gardener," it's worrying that a segment of society is unable to appreciate the beauty and essential role of the plant world, something he claims to have perceived since childhood.
In this context, the exhibition is conceived as an antidote to that blindness: The plants in the paintings become teachers of history, anthropology, and geography.As the curator points out, through them one can trace journeys, customs and beliefs, and even follow the trail of species that crossed oceans to become icons of European gardens.
The exhibition route also engages in a special dialogue with Flower TempsThe major floral event that transforms Girona every spring and attracts thousands of visitors. The timing reinforces the idea that The city becomes a grand stage where art and botany come together. They shake hands both in the streets and in the rooms of CaixaForum.
Art and science: a botanical reading of the Prado collections
"Botany in Art" adopts an openly multidisciplinaryFrom the room, the visitor perceives how art and scientific research They work together to reinterpret works from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Barba, with his experience as a gardener and researcher, examines leaves, flowers, and fruits almost as if he were looking at living plants.
His method is embodied in a selection where Each work has been analyzed from a botanical point of viewSome pieces have even been chosen for their frames ornamented with scrolls and plant motifs, as in the case of "Garden Party" by Charles-Joseph Flipart, where the foliage carved into the frame seems to extend the garden painted on the canvas into the viewer's space.
The result is a cross-reading From the Prado collection: paintings and sculptures that have rarely been shown from this perspective now converse with each other based on a shared flower or the same symbolic codeThus, the boundaries between genres and styles are blurred to privilege a common thread based on botany.
In this context, the Prado and CaixaForum emphasize that the exhibition not only disseminates heritage, but also stimulates new lines of researchThe botanical study of the works, supported by detailed photographs and scientific analysis, helps to improve attributions, dates and contexts, as has happened with some Flemish paintings rediscovered in the restoration process.
Botanical Masterpieces: From Flemish Still Lifes to the Garden of Eden
Among the 53 selected pieces, the exhibition pays special attention to several works that illustrate the variety of symbolic and narrative uses of plantsThe visitor can follow a veritable botanical itinerary that takes in still lifes, mythological scenes, landscapes, and courtly portraits.
A prominent example is the "Still Life with Flowers" by Jan van Kessel the ElderAn oil painting on copper depicts a profusion of tulips, roses, and lilies alongside small birds and rodents, while in the background a palace with its geometric garden is suggested. Within the same composition coexist... the cut flower in a bouquet, the potted plant, and the designed garden, three forms of nature controlled by the human hand that speak of taste, power and the domestication of the landscape in Baroque Europe.
Nor is the allegorical universe lacking in Pieter Brueghel the Younger in "The Garden of Eden," a copy of an original by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Here, the Garden of Eden is depicted as a lush garden where plants and animals coexist without conflictAmong the vegetation, flowers from different seasons can be seen alongside autumnal fruits, and, in the symbolic center of the landscape, a tree of life that is often identified with a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)Nearby, Adam and Eve prepare to take the fruit from the tree of knowledge, a key moment that will forever transform that plant harmony.
Along the same allegorical lines is "Abundance and the Four Elements"by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with Hendrik de Clerck. The goddess Ceres holds a cornucopia from which springs asparagus, cherries, hazelnuts or bitter orangesrepresenting the succession of seasons through the fruits of the earth. In her hair are mixed red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and blue cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus), plants that were once spread through cereal fields as traveling weeds, alongside ears of wheat, barley and oats that reinforce its role as an agricultural deity.
The tour is completed with still lifes where the sensuality of the fruits She is the main protagonist, as in "Mesa", of Jan Davidsz. de HeemA 17th-century canvas in which the painter demonstrates his virtuosity in depicting the textures, sheen, and volumes of grapes, citrus fruits, and other foods. This type of work allows us to explore how artists have attempted to Stimulate sight, touch, and even taste through extremely detailed representations of plant matter.
Floral symbols in portraits: from love to mourning
One of the surprises for many visitors is discovering the extent to which The meaning of flowers changes depending on the pictorial context.In the portrait room, the exhibition proposes direct comparisons between works where the same plant species acquires almost opposite interpretations.
This is the case carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)In the portrait of "Infanta Maria Antonia Fernanda de Borbón"Painted by Jacopo Amigoni around 1750, the flower that the young woman holds in her hand is associated with the commitment and conjugal loveIt is no coincidence that this type of carnation appears so frequently in wedding portraits, where it functions as a kind of visual promise of lasting affection.
However, in a still life attributed to the French Jacques Linardthe same flower integrates into a vanitas alongside a skull and other symbols of the fragility of existence. The carnation, which in a royal portrait speaks of sentimental hope, in this context serves to to remember the fleeting nature of lifeWhat blooms today withers tomorrow. The exhibition thus underscores the value of reading plants. not only as identifiable species, but as elements of a complex visual discourse.
Other portraits reveal political and dynastic messages through plants. The case of the flamingo. Anton Van Dyck with the portrait of Amalia Solms-Braunfels This is particularly illustrative: the orangeThe connection to the House of Orange-Nassau is reflected in the textile embellishments of the dress, while the subject caresses buds of a bitter orange tree that have not yet opened. According to Barba's interpretation, these shoots symbolize the future of the dynasty, a silent way of suggesting continuity and prosperity through the language of plants.
Gardens, gardeners and bulbs: the art of cultivating the landscape
The exhibition also reserves a space for the figure of gardener as demiurge...that person who shapes a living and changing space. In «Landscape with a Carthusian monk (Saint Bruno?)In Herman van Swanevelt's painting, a monk can be seen tending a garden full of bulbous plants, including tulips (Tulipa cv.), lilies (Lilium candidum) and imperial crowns (Fritillaria imperialis).
The scene shows the religious man carefully examining several bulbs, some already discarded on the rock, and another that he contemplates with particular interest, perhaps imagining the flower that will bloom next seasonThis image serves as a reminder that the garden is a extremely fragile creationIf neglected, nature reorganizes itself and the design is quickly lost. In this sense, the gardener appears almost as a creator who guides the garden's evolution according to their aesthetic and practical criteria.
In other paintings, the garden functions as courtly setting and symbol of powerPalaces surrounded by geometric flowerbeds, fountains, and clipped trees signal human control over nature, while the presence of exotic species in pots or greenhouses hints the ability of a court to import rare plants from other territories. This political dimension of the garden is added to the more intimate reading of domestic gardens and monastic spaces dedicated to contemplation and the cultivation of medicinal plants.
To reinforce this perspective on gardens, CaixaForum Girona's parallel programming includes activities such as visits to the Cap Roig Gardensguided by specialists like the gardener Daniel Vilana, which allow many of the botanical elements that appear in historical paintings to be transferred to the current landscape.
Grapes, ivy, and sunflowers: religious and mythological symbols
The sample also reviews the Plant symbolism in religious and mythological scenesIn a painting dedicated to Saint JeromeFor example, ivy (Hedera helix) climbs behind a crucifix and is associated with the eternal life due to its perennial nature, whereas in a "Bacchus Scene" of Nicholas Poussin The same plant is coiled around the waist of a faun as an attribute of the god Bacchus, along with the vine leaves (Vitis vinifera) that crown the characters.
In the work «Bacchanalian scene"Ivy and vine appear inseparable as symbols of wine, drunkenness, and celebrationas they had been conceived in ancient Greece and Rome. It is a good example of how the same species can change its register: in an ascetic context it is associated with spiritual eternity, while in a Dionysian festival it refers to excess and earthly pleasure.
In the religious sphere, they also appear grapes and bunches with a strong symbolic charge. In works such as "Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels" by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the Christ Child holds a bunch of grapes that foreshadows the acceptance of his sacrifice In adulthood, in direct allusion to the Eucharist. In this way, the plants become visual bridges between Christian iconography and everyday life of the public of the time, familiar with the cultivation of the vine.
Another striking presence is that of sunflower (Helianthus annuus), portrayed in a "Vase" of Jan Brueghel the ElderArriving in Europe from America in the 16th century, the sunflower quickly transformed into star plant of gardens and still lifes for their enormous flower heads and edible seeds. Brueghel, known for his fidelity to plant morphology, even traveled to other cities to paint flowers from life.
The artist himself wrote down his method: The flowers had to be painted in one go, without any preliminary drawings.taking advantage of the mere four months of its flowering. This almost documentary approach transforms his still lifes into a kind of pictorial herbariumwhere each petal and each leaf provides information about the species cultivated in Europe at that time.
Restoration, research and new attributions
One of the less visible, but most relevant aspects of "Botany in Art" is the extensive restoration work carried out by the Prado Museum before the tour. As Alfonso Palacio explained, it was a true "asset recovery operation", since many of the 53 works came from external warehouses or depots.
During this process, the following have occurred: significant findings for the museumA paradigmatic case is that of a painting deposited in the Lope de Vega House Museum in Madrid, whose authorship was unknown and which is now attributed to flamenco David Teniers the YoungerIt is a scene of witchcraft where the hop, a plant with sedative properties, which is featured in the exhibition alongside a work by the Barcelona-born artist Francesc Masriera i Manovens in which a young woman rests smoking tobacco.
The commissioner himself considers this painting "a great masterpiece" and believes it meets all the requirements to be integrated into the Prado's permanent collection when the exhibition's run ends, scheduled to last until early 2029. It is not the only example: Palacio points out that There are several pieces with the potential to remain permanently. in the museum's rooms, thanks to the conservation interventions carried out.
This more technical aspect of the exhibition underlines the relationship between botany, restoration and art historyThe precise identification of plant species, supported by scientific research, helps to date the works more accurately, understand their provenance, and, in some cases, correct attributions. The exhibition, therefore, not only brings plants closer to the general public, but also reorganizes academic knowledge about collections.
Botanical photography and olfactory stations: a multisensory experience
The exhibition device is not limited to hanging paintings. One of its most innovative elements is the inclusion of botanical photographs made specifically by the artist Paula CodoñerThese images are placed alongside the works in the Prado to show what are the species that appear painted like in nature?, allowing the artists' accuracy to be compared with plant reality.
Far from functioning as simple educational panels, Codoñer's photographs are integrated into the aesthetic discourse of the exhibition, with supports designed to visually engage with the canvases. This decision reinforces the scientific dimension of the project: by juxtaposing paintings and photographs, the public can appreciate details that might otherwise go unnoticedsuch as the shape of the calyx, the arrangement of the leaves, or the exact point of ripeness of a fruit.
The tour is completed with five olfactory stations that recreate aromas inspired by species present in the exhibition, such as jasmine or rose. Designed by the perfumer Luz Vaquero in collaboration with the company iberchem and coordinated by María Ángeles López and Sandra CermeñoThese creations allow visitors link the image of the plant with its smelladding a more intimate and evocative layer to the experience.
The devices are adapted to different heights to facilitate access for people with varying mobility, and they are integrated with the artworks without interfering with their conservation. The result is a multisensory experience which combines the visual contemplation of historical paintings, photographic precision, and olfactory memory.
Accessibility and mediation: democratizing botany in art
The exhibition incorporates a mediation and accessibility project which seeks to reach a broad audience, including people in vulnerable situations or with disabilities. In accordance with the mission of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, specific resources have been designed for reduce cognitive and visual barriers.
The reading texts are available at easy-to-read versionwith a simplified structure and more accessible vocabulary, and there is another version with larger typefaces, macro characters, and brailleThe aim is for the exhibition's fundamental message—the relevance of the plant world in art—to be understandable to all visitors, regardless of their familiarity with museum language.
The itinerary also incorporates mediation materials that directly connect the works with photographs by Paula Codoñer and other contemporary resources, in order to build bridges between historical collections and current sensibilitiesThe aim is to present the Prado's heritage not as something distant, but as a collection of pieces capable of engaging with present-day concerns, from the climate crisis to the rediscovery of traditional knowledge about plants.
Alongside the main route, CaixaForum Girona has prepared a schedule of complementary activities which includes family film series, specialized talks, and guided tours that emphasize the relationship between art, botany, gastronomy, and health. Among the offerings is a conversation between the chef Iolanda Bustos and the herbalist Montse Parada on the nutritional, medicinal and cultural potential of the plant species present in the exhibition.
The program is complemented by actions linked to Flower Temps, reinforcing the exhibition's connection with Girona's cultural life and consolidating CaixaForum as a space where Scientific and artistic culture meet.
With this project, CaixaForum Girona and the Prado Museum put forward a clear idea: Plants in art have never been mere decorationsBy illuminating its presence in 53 works, the exhibition allows visitors to rediscover the Prado's collections from a fresh perspective, in which every leaf and petal actively participates in the visual narrative. For the visitor, the result is an experience that combines art history, science, restoration, and ecological awareness, inviting them to leave the gallery with a new way of looking at both the paintings and the gardens and landscapes that surround us.
