Blooming Art

Early in March each year the de Young Museum in San Francisco has a fund raiser called Bouquets to Art. Floral designers pick out a work of art to interrupt in flowers and natural materials. It’s kind of a stationery Rose Parade, where the viewers wander the galleries to see all the bouquets. It’s a busy day. I love to go alone so I can mosey at my own speed. Sometimes I need to linger and sometimes I want to pass the flowers to look at the art that’s not made of flowers.

Here I’ve gathered a few of my favorites from this year, 2026. The first one is a tiffany window and the floral interruption was bursting just like the window. I like the way is reaches out of the frame at you. The second pair of photos doesn’t capture the swirls of the painting very well, but the floral design did. It was a bouquet that seemed to move just like the painting.

The second row of photos shows an arrangement that was a clever use of calla lilies to create a braid. And the last two photos are snaps of art with no flowers. I love a good still life and the museum has many. Those oranges look like I could pluck one out of the frame and eat it. And the orange girl in the last photo is wandering the galleries too. Impressionists are among my favorites.