What do flowers talk about?
Colorful, fragrant, delicate flowers are associated with beauty, youth and transience. This seemingly trivial element has had many meanings for centuries. This happens in art and everyday life. Each type has different uses and its own symbolism.
The exhibition presents exhibits from the collections of the District Museum in Leszno, showing flowers in various forms. As an inspiration for artists, flowers appear in painted landscapes and still lifes. Floral motifs decorate artistic crafts objects. Flowers are also present in folk aesthetics, rituals, customs and folklore. Attention is drawn to their relationship with a woman, as well as their occurrence as an element of the motif of vanitas in culture, which speaks of transience, the impermanence of beauty and worldly goods, as well as the fragility of life.
The exhibition presents exhibits from the collections of the District Museum in Leszno, showing flowers in various forms. As an inspiration for artists, flowers appear in painted landscapes and still lifes. Floral motifs decorate artistic crafts objects. Flowers are also present in folk aesthetics, rituals, customs and folklore. Attention is drawn to their relationship with a woman, as well as their occurrence as an element of the motif of vanitas in culture, which speaks of transience, the impermanence of beauty and worldly goods, as well as the fragility of life.
Exhibition goals
The aim of the exhibition is to show floral motifs appearing in the collections of the District Museum in Leszno and to present the importance of flowers in culture on their example. We point to the cyclical appearance of flowers in various versions during the ritual year, as well as the presence of flowers in the most important moments of human life. Our goal is to create an unusual mood provided by the collected museum items, objects of folk handicrafts, as well as live flowers.
Information
Location: Leszno District Museum, 31Gabriela Narutowicza Street
Duration: March 18–August 16, 2026
Exhibition curators: Zuzanna Rybińska, Ewa Tomaszewska
Contact: zuzanna.rybinska@muzeum.leszno.pl, ewa.tomaszewska@muzeum.leszno.pl
Duration: March 18–August 16, 2026
Exhibition curators: Zuzanna Rybińska, Ewa Tomaszewska
Contact: zuzanna.rybinska@muzeum.leszno.pl, ewa.tomaszewska@muzeum.leszno.pl
Accompanying events:
- 17.03., 5.00 PM. – exhibition opening
- 19.03., 11.00 AM – lecture Plant motifs in art, part 1 (Zuzanna Rybińska)
- 29.03., 4.00 PM – curatorial tour
- 9.04., 11:00 AM – lecture Plant motifs in art, part 2 (Zuzanna Rybińska)
- 24.04., 11.00 AM – lecture Plant motifs in artistic crafts (Małgorzata Gniazdowska)
- 7.05., 11.00 AM – lecture Flowers and herbs in traditional culture (Ewa Tomaszewska)
- 16.05. – Night of Museums, curatorial tour
- 16.08., 4.00 PM – exhibition closing day