A Preview to Spring

Marianne North was a prolific, self-taught artist, whose floral and botanical paintings crossed the boundaries between art and science. She was adventurous, bold, defied convention and broke the rules. She was a women definitely ahead of her time! Born in England in the 1830's, her role in society at that time, was to be married and have children, but instead, she traveled the world by herself and ended up creating almost a thousand botanical images from around the globe. Born to a wealthy family whose father served in Parliament, her interests in art, music, and science were often overlooked and not particularly supported. Yet, she continued to sketch and paint the flowers in the gardens and greenhouse on her family's estate. Eventually, her life took a turn, and between 1871-1885, she visited more than 15 different countries, some more than once, usually traveling alone. This was also in a time before vehicles, airplanes, the internet, Wi-Fi, etc, so traveling would have been particularly difficult. Eventually, her paintings began to overtake her London flat, so she asked a friend, Sir Joseph Hooker, who was the director of the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, if she could donate all her paintings to be housed in a special gallery to be built in the gardens there. Well the rest, as they say, is history. In 1882, the Marianne North Gallery opened to record crowds, exhibiting over 800 of her original artworks. It has been visited by thousands every year since, making it the longest running one-woman show ever created! Marianne died on August 30, 1890, and was buried in Gloucestershire, England, not far from her garden and the plants and flowers that she loved so very much.

So as we await for the arrival of the spring season, perhaps looking at some of Marianne North's beautifully painted florals will help get us all in the mindset of thinking "spring is sprung" just a bit early. You can enjoy some of her artworks below!

You can take learn more about this artist and take a short online tour of the Marianne North Gallery at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, by clicking the link here.

The Marianne North Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Great books to read about Marianne North:

Marianne North: The Kew Collection, by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Marianne North: A Victorian Painter for the 21st Century, by Lynne Howarth-Gladston

Fearless World Traveler, by Laurie Lawlor