This summer, visitors will have the opportunity to bring their museum experience home with A Field Guide to Flowers at the Denver Art Museum. Consider it a portable journey through many of the flowers in the museum’s collection.
“A Field Guide to Flowers is not a catalog—it’s an adventure,” said Laura Caruso, head of publications at the DAM. “Not only is it beautiful, it’s also full of fun activities designed by local creatives.” This small, richly illustrated book is both inspirational and interactive, offering readers the chance to make their own flower-influenced stories, drawings, recipes…even a cocktail! Whatever your flower fascination, there’s something in the field guide for you.
Inside, readers will find pages filled with images of floral artwork from the DAM’s collections—from impressionist paintings, to contemporary photographs, to Japanese kimonos and Finnish tapestries. In the guide, artworks are displayed in a level of detail that's rarely seen through a traditional museum experience, and arranged in fresh, surprising ways to generate new perspectives and spark creativity.
Readers will find themselves drawn into the world of flowers as if walking down a garden path. Each turn of the page offers a new view. A Field Guide to Flowers is ideal for perusal over a cup of coffee. With its built-in notes section, it’s great for taking with you on an actual trail.
A Field Guide to Flowers at the Denver Art Museum is available for purchase this summer for $17.50 at The Shop and online.
In Bloom: Painting Flowers in the Age of Impressionism is on view at the DAM July 19–October 11.
Image credit: Bently Spang, Cheyenne, b. 1960; Modern Warrior Series: War Shirt #4—National Sacrifice, 2010; glass beads, velvet, silk plant leaves, rubber figures, color photographs, Ethernet cord, SD card, plastic packaging, hemp cord. William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, by exchange, 2010.491ab (detail). © Bently Spang.
Martin J. Heade, American, 1819–1904; Red Roses in a Glass, about 1880; oil paint on canvas. The Edward andTullah Hanley Memorial Gift to the People of Denver and the Area, 1974.419 (detail).
Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926; Waterlilies or The Water Lily Pond (Nymphéas), 1904; oil paint on canvas. Funds from Helen Dill bequest, 1935.14 (detail).
Portrait of Sister Ana María of the Precious Blood of Christ; Puebla, Mexico, about 1770; oil paint on canvas. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2014.215 (detail).
