Photo Credit: India Hobson (except The Marias by Kapwani Kiwanga: ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2025)
Flowers in all their forms – delicate, dramatic, otherworldly – take centre stage in this captivating exhibition. The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth was originally staged at Chatsworth from 15 March to 5 October 2025, drawing on rare botanical treasures from the Chatsworth Library and the estate’s magnificent gardens and landscapes. Born in one of England’s most iconic historic homes, the exhibition is now travelling the world inviting global audiences to experience this poetic celebration of nature’s fleeting brilliance through the lens of art, science and imagination.
Gardeners and botanists have foraged, planted, conserved and protected an array of specimens at Chatsworth over the past 500 years. Together, they have created what amounts to a living compendium of the natural world that continues to be nurtured today.
“Botany is the science of beauty”, wrote the notable 19th-century Head Gardener of Chatsworth and engineer Joseph Paxton. It is also the study of humanity. This exhibition explores a series of themes that reflect the lure of flowers and the human experience in all its contrasts and complexities: mythology and magic, gatherers, still lives, sexuality and the senses, beauty and horror, in place and out of place, permanence and the ephemeral, and flowers as symbols.
The exhibition takes its cue from the American poet Emily Dickinson’s habit of composing poems on scraps of paper and used envelopes. These ‘gorgeous nothings’ she refers to in one such poem are vital matters to her. Gathering – to bring together and take in from different places and sources – is an act of preservation and often of survival. Works by contemporary artists and pieces made especially for the exhibition highlight parallels to the act of collecting – a practice rooted in the history of Chatsworth.
The exhibition reminds us of the urgency of the environmental crisis today, but also the resilience and persistence of nature. Each flower is associated with deep-rooted and geographically diverse histories and myths. Individually, they may be considered gorgeous nothings, but together, they manifest life and endurance against all odds.
Exhibition Themes:
Please see the brochure The Gorgeous Nothings – Flowers at Chatsworth – Tour pack.pdf for full information.
For any enquiries, contact Anaïs Aguerre — info@culture-connect.net or Gemma Plumpton — Gemma.Plumpton@chatsworth.org.
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