19 Beautifully Famous Floral Paintings Of Spring

Spring and floral art: a brief overview

Spring is an inspiration to any creative. It’s a time when the soil itself is full of potential. Seeds take root, shoots push up from below and fruit trees blossom, each tiny flower a potential fruit. It’s no wonder spring flowers are a running theme throughout art history.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to 19 floral paintings of the season of growth. We’ll discuss the history of flowers through some famous floral artwork before delving into the EFA collection to find more beautiful art that highlights the wonder of springtime.

A brief history of floral paintings

We can find flowers in art as far back as the Ancient Egyptian era when lotus flowers were drawn frequently in many of the works that have survived thousands of years. In the Medieval period, floral motifs were used in illuminated letters to decorate early books.

Der Rupsen Begin, Maria Merian, 1712

Botanical drawings also play a large part in the history of floral art, as accurately describing the flower of each plant is important for identification. However, this did not mean there was no room for creativity or innovation. For example, the detailed illustrations of Maria Merian (1647-1717) included the insects that lived in relationship to plants.

In Western art, flowers have offered a rich symbolic language for artists to work with, particularly in the Victorian era. For example, the different colours of roses could send an implicit message, with red suggesting passionate love and yellow a gesture of friendship.

As well as roses, irises, carnations and other flowers can be arranged to create complex meanings, which differed depending on context.

Although floral arrangements were officially part of the lowly ‘Still Life’ class of art in the hierarchy of forms, many impressionist and romantic artists turned this on its head.

Van Gogh’s fascination with nature led him to create floral masterpieces in his Sunflowers series, and the Pre-Raphaelite artists adorned their romantic scenes with highly detailed flowers.

In searching for famous floral paintings of springtime, we look for the blossoms and bulbs that make this season so beautiful and uplifting.

These are often delicate flowers, such as snowdrops and cherry blossoms, or brightly coloured blooms to attract waking pollinators, such as crocus, daffodils, hyacinth and camelia.

Almond Tree, Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry, Katsushika Hokusai, 1834

Note the similarities between Van Gogh’s Almond Tree and Hokusai’s Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry. Both focus on the detail of delicate pink blossoms, grounded against a blue background.

Both artists carefully highlight the irregularities of the branches and the different stages of flowering, including detailed buds and open flowers.

These springtime studies highlight a fascination among both these 19th-century painters with the intricate perfection of nature.

Through the twentieth century, artists have abstracted and experimented with the form of different flowers. The blooms were painted close up in beautiful detail by Georgia O’Keeffe, emphasizing the rich colour and luxurious textures of the petals.

In Andy Warhol’s Flowers series, the silhouettes of hibiscus blossoms are brightened in varying colours and set in repeating panels.

Flowers, Andy Warhol, 1970

Light Iris, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1924

Seasonal changes are a major theme in David Hockney’s recent work. Returning to the same view in his home of Yorkshire many times over a year to document the differences in colour and light. This is an example of his spring paintings, with creamy froths of white hawthorne blossom stealing the show, reflected in the delicate cow parsley flowers on the opposite side of the lane. Hockney includes tiny sprays of yellow and purple along the verges, emphasizing the diversity of plant life present in the hedgerows.

Hawthorne Blossom Near Rudston, David Hockney, 2008

Floral Art & Paintings of Springtime

Artists working with florals today take varied approaches. Some, like Jane Morgan, fill the canvas with crowds of wildflowers. Others, like Aziz, focus on arrangements of cut flowers. Here we showcase some of the spring floral paintings from our collection that will wash away the winter blues.

Jane Morgan

Morgan’s floral paintings fill the canvas with flowers and grasses in various colour schemes. Each painting features different, recognisable species of flowers, creating a scene full of movement and diversity that the eye can rove over many times, always seeing something new. Morgan blurs the line between floral painter and botanical artist. She draws on an intimate knowledge of each plant’s form to choose combinations that are visually interesting and create depth. Her compositions evoke a snapshot of a whole field of flowers, placing us right at stem height to experience the beauty of so many together. You can see our full collection of Jane Morgan artwork here.

Spring Love, Jane Morgan (30x60cm, Acrylic on Canvas)

Bright flecks of paint across the upper portion of these paintings create a sense of pollen and insect life, floating over the fields. Looking at these alliums, buttercups and daisies, and the contrasting greens peeking through the stems, one could almost see them waving in the spring breeze.

Lost in Time by Jane Morgan (30x60cm, Acrylic on Canvas)

These bright yellow stars remind us of daffodils, one of the most commonly recognised spring flowers. The various shades of pink call out tulips, early fox gloves and carnations, while white froths of cow parsley or alliums add a delicate change in scale.

Spring Feeling by Jane Morgan (50x100cm, Acrylic on Canvas)

Working each painting with a focus on different flower arrangements allows Morgan to vary her colour palette. These purples and pale pinks are reflected in the pastel sky, which adds an ephemeral feel to the work.

Spring Breeze, Jane Morgan (50x100cm, Acrylic on Canvas)

Another piece populated by alliums, the form of each flower head is picked out distinctly by Morgan’s skill. She uses varied leaf and stem structures to add interesting details, making each species identifiable.

Leanne Christie

Leanne Christie uses figurative floral representations and circular details to create beautiful art that speaks of spring. Christie’s paintings often use the same types of plants, creating compositions from round orbs and tall heads of multiple flowers. The variety of colour schemes among these floral artworks makes it difficult to determine the species, but the shapes suggest rhododendrons and fox gloves, delphiniums and alliums.

To New Beginnings by Leanne Christie (30x30cm, Mixed Media on Canvas)

The circles of paint floating throughout the images sometimes imply butterflies and pollinating insects, and at other times gather together to suggest crowds of smaller flower heads.

Verona Blossom by Leanne Christie (76x76cm, Oil on Canvas)

The strong strokes of green indicate stems and grass in the background. Their simplified forms create interesting compositions but always leave the emphasis on the blooms themselves.

Enchanted Dream by Leanne Christie (91x91cm, Mixed Media on Canvas)

In each painting flowers are carefully constructed from large brushstrokes, gradually varying the paint’s colour to create shading and highlights which bring the flowers into three dimensions.

Raining Kisses with Love by Leanne Christie (101x101cm, Oil on Canvas)

In the most figurative of Leanne Christie’s works, such as Raining Kisses and Enchanted Dream, the flowers hang from a ceiling into a blended pastel background. This creates a dreamlike quality, while tiny details and variations in colour and tone build up to develop a rich texture. You can view more of our collection of Leanne Christie artwork here.

Kerry Darlington

A fantasy artist in the main, Kerry Darlington is inspired by illustrations of children’s books. Her work often features magical creatures or characters from stories, but its most interesting details are the tiny three-dimensional additions that Darlington applies by hand to every edition. You can view our full collection of Kerry Darlington artwork here.

Pixie Hollow, Kerry Darlington (85×99.5cm, Mixed Media)

In Pixie Hollow, the leaves of ghostlike trees are just beginning to open. These tiny golden leaves are picked out in metallic paint. The effect of this is that the image changes throughout the day as natural light moves.

Cherry Blossom, Kerry Darlington (23x61cm, Mixed Media)

Part of a series of coloured trees, Cherry Blossom is a springtime artwork which differs greatly from Hokusai’s realism. The blossoms are cut from thin pieces of wood glued on and coated with resin. Darlington places the silhouetted tree in the distance, giving more room to the ground with details in metallic and translucent paints. The twisting red and gold lines suggest a view through the earth to the root system interconnecting with mycelial threads.

Aziz

Aziz Sulaymanov is one of Kyrgyzstan’s leading artists, working in oils to create beautiful floral still-life artwork. View our full collection of Aziz’s artworks. What is most interesting about Aziz’s paintings is the appearance of very few brush strokes to create complex flowers. As shown below on the floral painting Soul Mate, each rose petal is afforded a single stroke, with variation in the shades. The skill with which Aziz represents these flowers has led him to show work around the world, winning international acclaim.

Our Love, Aziz (35x30cm, Oil on Canvas)

With a distinctive style, Aziz’s floral paintings often feature a vase of flowers against a plain background. The cloud of tiny blue flowers in Our Love suggests violets, a favourite spring flower.

Soul Mate, Aziz (35x30cm Oil on Canvas)

Many of Aziz’s paintings feature roses, with their pale blooms offset by a single ripe cherry to one side. His work includes deep shadows and bright highlights, composed of muted colours and bright contrasts. They appear perfectly balanced.

Kara Strachan

Summer, Kara Strachan

While this painting is titled Summer, we couldn’t resist including it in our rundown of spring artworks. The photorealism with which Strachan reproduces the tiny cones of these flowers creates a fascinating beauty. Each spec of pollen is picked out in bright yellow, with the geometry of nature playing out in straight lines and even spacing. The delicate, wilting petals contain many shades of white, blue, yellow and purple, blending to highlight their crumpled edges.

Celebrating Spring with Floral Paintings

Spring is a favourite time of year for many people, and is associated with flowers, fertility and new life. Birds build nests, sheep are lambing, and leaves spring green: it’s no wonder this is a time of celebration in many religions and cultures.

In the northern hemisphere, spring begins properly with the Vernal Equinox on 20th March. This is the time when the Earth’s axis is neither tilted towards nor away from the Sun, but side-on. Both hemispheres have equal daylight for just a moment before the pendulum swings the other way. The Northern hemisphere is on its way to summer, and the southern hemisphere is cooling towards winter.

In many cultures, this time is celebrated with festivals of fertility and rebirth. The most sacred festival in the Christian calendar, Easter, is held in Spring each year, and many Easter traditions are drawn from pre-Christian spring festivals such as Ostara.

Eggs, rabbits and chicks feature in many spring traditions as symbols of new life and reproduction. This coincides with Nowruz, the Persian New Year and a Zoroastrian festival marking the return of a spirit banished underground during the winter. In Hinduism, the beginning of Spring is marked by Holi, the festival of colour, while in Thailand, the new year is celebrated with the Songkran Water Festival, when people gather in the streets for an enormous water fight.

Whether you’re celebrating the return of colourful flowers, the beginning of a new year or Easter Sunday, spring is a time to wipe away the cobwebs. The floral and spring artworks we’ve celebrated here are filled with colour and sunshine, making them perfect additions to refresh your art collection at this time of year.