Flowers and floral motifs have long been a popular subject for artists, due to their decorative nature and culturally associated symbolism. For example, in many depictions of the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel presents the Virgin Mary with a white lily, standing for her purity. In other instances, the flowers themselves are the primary subject of a work. During the seventeenth century “Golden Age” of Dutch painting, many artists painted elaborate floral still lifes. Such compositions by artists like Rachel Ruysch and Abraham Van Beyeren often included impossible combinations of blooms from different seasons and even different geographical locales, and allowed wealthy merchants to show off their refined taste. At the same time, still lifes that included decaying flowers acted as emblems of the brevity of life and inevitability of death. Moving into the nineteenth century, floral still lifes were a favorite subject for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists like Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, who famously painted vases stuffed with colorful irises and sunflowers. Also in the nineteenth century, the Aesthetic artists prized flowers for their simple beauty and recognizability. They put flat, decorative floral motifs on the surface of their works—be they paintings, furniture, or wallpaper. The same aspects of flowers appealed to Andy Warhol, who made a series of iconic flower silkscreen prints in the 1960s.

Some artists have emphasized the sensuality of flowers in their work. Beginning in the 1920s, American artist Georgia O’Keeffe painted intimate, close-up views of flowers that many have interpreted as allusions to female genitalia. Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe made a series of pictures of flowers so delicate that they appear almost flesh-like. Many artists continue to incorporate images of flowers into their work, including Takashi Murakami, Alex Katz, Jim Hodges, and Marc Quinn.