Botanical art has been around since the earliest civilisations, when plants were drawn as decorative motifs on pottery and other objects. The ancient Greeks used illustrations to catalogue plants with healing properties and this practice continued up until 18th and early 19th centuries when the materials and media used in paintings has widened.
Towards the end of the 19th century and during the 20th century, botanical art started to become more and more decorative, as photography took over the role of providing accurate botanical illustrations for scientific purposes. The genre didn’t disappear; it liberated artists from capturing just one stage of a plant’s life in an artwork and allowed for bigger scale illustrations.
In the contemporary art scene, botanical art combines both the accurate botanical details with the artist’s expression in his/her distinctive style. If in the old days botanical artists used mainly watercolours, nowadays they also use other media such as acrylics and oils. Their artworks are no longer exclusively appearing in botanical catalogues, but in galleries and private collections too.
Despite its scientific aspect, botanical art continues to be one of the most popular forms of wall art, very much loved by artists and collectors alike.
