From September 18 - 22, 2024, Fleurs de Villes returned to Prudential Center with ARTISTE – a fresh floral celebration of remarkable artists. Inspired by the global collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), this unique floral exhibition featured a collection of 19 one-of-a-kind fresh floral mannequins created by Boston’s talented floral designers.

Following the success of Fleurs de Villes ARTISTE, we take a look at the history of this pillar of Boston arts and culture through the paintings that inspired our floral artists. 

Founded in 1870, and opened to the public in 1876, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston now boasts an impressive collection of art from around the world, including such iconic paintings as Van Gogh's Postman Joseph Roulin, with its brilliant colour palette brought to life in blue and yellow blooms by Sunny Florists (1).

Early gallery visitors of the 19th century held a particular fascination with ancient Egyptian culture. The MFA now holds one of the world's leading collections of ancient Egyptian art, including the Pair statue of Ptahkenuwy and his wife that inspired the mannequin design by Baby Boyle Bouquets (2).

Another sculpture, this time depicting the Roman goddess Juno, served as inspiration for Rafael Floral & Event Design. The limited colour-palette of marble was enhanced with blooms of varying textures and sculpted leaves (3).

Jumping forward in time, Woman with a Flower is a piece by an unknown artist from Northern India's Mughal era (late 17th century). For their mannequin, Just Bloom'd incorporated spices like cinnamon and star anise with fresh flowers, evoking the warmth and complexity of the scene while highlighting the detailed embroidering skills of Mughal textile craftsmen (4).

The MFA houses one of the largest collections of Japanese art outside Japan. One such work is Woman Looking at Herself in a Mirror, by artist Katsushika Hokusai (of Great Wave fame). A fine example of ukiyo-e printmaking and its popular floral motifs, it proved ample inspiration for the mannequin by Restless Spirit Floral Co. (5).

Copper Penny Flowers' floral depiction of a more modern Japanese work, Tearoom by Saeki Shunkô, features a skirt of bright yellow mums and ranunculus (to name a few) against a contrastingly simple and ordered background of houseplants (6).

Clover by Tateishi Harumi, another modern Japanese work held at the MFA, inspired Phlox Design Co.'s lounging mannequin at 200 Clarendon (7).

The MFA boasts paintings from many iconic European painters. Velázquez, a Baroque painter popular with Spain's royal family, painted the princess La infanta Teresa, which Ephemeris Floral Design recreated with an overwhelming white skirt of roses and curls of amaranthus (8).

French painter of the Rococo, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, was largely self-taught, facing many barriers as a female artist in the 18th century, and yet found herself painting portraits of Marie Antoinette. Her Portrait of a Young Woman was the inspiration for Floral Lab's candy-coloured mannequin (9).  

German painter Franz Xavier Winterhalter was known for his portraits of royalty and Parisin society. The Romantic glamour of his portrait of Wieńczysława Barczewska, Madame de Jurjewicz, is recreated by Derby Farm Flowers & Garden with a full skirt of chrysanthemums and loose flowing hair of hydrangea (10).

In the early 20th century, the collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art had not yet picked up in its birthplace of France. It was, instead, American curators, and in particular Bostonians, who had the foresight to acquire the works of now household names such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Degas, and Van Gogh. In fact, the MFA has the largest collection of Claude Monet paintings outside of his native France. His painting of Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist's Garden at Argenteuil was brought to life by Winston Flowers in a serene scene of blue, pink, red and cream blooms (11).

Yet another iconic Impressionist piece, Pierre Auguste-Renoir's Dance at Bougival is reimagined by Poppy Floral, whose playful pink skirt and red anthurium bonnet capture Renoir's depiction of modern recreation and style (12).

In the 1920s, John Singer Sargent was commissioned to paint murals in the Rotunda and Colonnade of the MFA's new Huntington Avenue building. Though the turn of the century saw Sargent taking on plenty of these mural projects, the American expat had once been renowned for his portraits of 19th century high society, such as that of Mrs. Charles E. Inches (Louise Pomeroy), recreated by BUDS in burgundy ti leaves and deep red roses (13).

From its founding, the MFA has been committed to showcasing American and Bostonian art. Floral Dahlia recreated Thomas Sully's iconic depiction of a historical American scene, The Passage of the Delaware, with a blue leaf-covered jacket for George Washington (14).

At Dusk (Boston Commons at Twilight) (1885-56) by the Boston-born Impressionist painter Childe Hassam, shows what would have been (at the time) a modern scene at a recognizable Boston park. Bluebird Bouquets recreated this scene at the Boston Marriott Copley Place (15).

American-born impressionist Mary Cassatt focused on depicting the domestic and social lives of upper-class women, showing them drinking tea, attending the opera, crocheting, or reading. ‍One such intimate moment, Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading, is brought to life in peaceful, delicate tones by Reynolds Flowers (16).

In their floral mannequin inspired by Gretchen Woodman Rogers's Woman in a Fur Hat, florist King Farm uses succulents, seed pods and bunny tails to depict the variety of textures and materials that the Boston-born artist renders so beautifully in her painting (17).

The MFA has one of the finest collections of mid-century art in the US, including the works of American artists Georgia O’Keefe, Andrew Wyeth, and Boston-born John Wilson, whose painting The Dressing Table inspired Floristika's intricate floral mannequin (18). 

The museum's Sharf Visitor Center played host to a special mannequin, designed by Beach Plum Flower Shop and based on the Marjorie Merriweather Post brooch, a star of the MFA’s jewelry collection (19).