Thursday, October 1, 2026
Spring is in the air at the Nassau Country Museum of Art. They are hosting a garden party and everyone is invited. And what a glorious invitation! From the mundane to the exquisite flowers are holding court as paintings, sculpture, fashion and costumes depicting blooms delight visitors at this stunning museum.
Who would be surprised to find flowers the subject of a museum exhibit? After all the Garden of Eden was filled with plants and flowers, they have inspired artists and poets, and flowers have always been a seminal part of any special occasion. Anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, parties all include flowers. They say, quite simply, something wonderful has happened.
Franklin Hill Perrell, everyone’s favorite curator and lecturer, and JoAnne Olian, former curator from The Museum of the City of New York, have organized this delightful exhibit, “Garden Party,” showing the seasonless appeal of flowers.
On view is the work of Charles Burchfield, David Hockney, Maurice Prendergast, Larry Rivers and James Rosenquist among others. There are evening bags by Judith Leiber which incorporate flower motifs as well as dresses by Mainbocher, de la Renta and Traina Norell whose magnificent silk tafetta fabrics are in bloom. In addition you will find Prendergast’s post Impressionist painting of a garden party, works by Chagall with its essential bouquet and pieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
It is, however, the flower paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe that Perrell focused on during his informative lecture on March 22. Because O’Keeffe is the mother of American modernism, Perrell considers her piece “Coxcomb” the stand-in for the aesthetic character of the show. O’Keeffe considered gardens as art and her flower paintings were modernist art work. She wanted more than a vision of a garden she wanted to know, how did that garden feel?
The curators have created a paradise of flowers at 1 Museum Drive in Roslyn Harbor, (516) 484-9337). Garden Party will be on view through July 6. Don’t miss it!
