Art exhibition - Rory McEwen The Colours Of Reality

11 May to 22 September 2013, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens

Rory McEwen The Colours of Reality presents the vibrant and varied career of the renowned Scottish artist and musician, Rory McEwen. View his remarkable paintings of plants and find out more about McEwen’s lifelong enquiry into light and colour. Buy the accompanying book to find out more about McEwen's art and life.

Tickets for the Gardens, including the Rory McEwen exhibition

Garden tickets - £14.50 for adults and £12.50 for concessions. Kids 16 and under go free! (detailed ticket information)
Buy the accompanying book - Rory McEwen The Colours of Reality presents the vibrant and varied career of this renowned Scottish artist and musician. View McEwen's remarkable paintings of plants and find out more about his lifelong enquiry into light and colour.
Become a Friend of Kew - get free access to the Gardens all year round - £71 annually
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Rory McEwen - the artist

McEwen was renowned for both his artistic and musical work and this exhibition brings together many sides of his creative career. Ranging from the 1950s to the early 1980s, it includes his hyper-realistic botanical paintings as well as etchings and sketch books. In addition to lesser-known pieces such as collages, you can also view an example of his sculpture, and a rarely-seen film documentation of Joseph Beuys performing an action, ‘Joseph Beuys in Scotland’, from 1970.

McEwen is best known for his botanical studies, and his techniques have had a lasting impact on the botanical art world. His posthumous 1988 Serpentine Gallery exhibition is considered one of the turning points in the development of contemporary botanical art, and had a marked effect on botanical artists which lasts to this day. Four of the gallery spaces at Kew Gardens are devoted to these botanical studies, painted in watercolour on vellum.

Van Morrison and the folk singer Martin Carthy also cite McEwen as an influence, with Carthy recalling that “you saw the world when you went to Tregunter Road (the McEwen home). Bob Dylan, George Melly, Princess Margaret, The Beatles...”

Find out more about the artist and his life

Rory McEwen’s legacy - Artists influenced by him in the Shirley Sherwood Collection

Open until January 2014, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens

To highlight McEwen’s influence on contemporary botanical artists, a supporting exhibition, Rory McEwen’s Legacy: Artists Influenced by him in the Shirley Sherwood Collection, is also showing until 4 January 2014. See how McEwen inspired many of today’s artists such as Bridgid Edwards, Coral Guest, and Pandora Sellars. Admission to the exhibition is free with entry to the Gardens. Find out more about this exhibition.

Buy the book

Developed in close collaboration with the McEwen family, this is the first major exposure of Rory McEwen's work since 1989. The book includes stunning illustrations of McEwen's floral subjects, and essays about his life and work from Martyn Rix, James Fox, Richard Demarco and Dr Shirley Sherwood.

Look inside the book (pdf)