Simple forms, fractal figures, muted, muted or vibrant colors, spiny, downy, shaggy or waxy shells, fleshy, velvety organs, extravagant architectures, cacti and succulent plants have been an object of fascination for centuries. The New National Museum of Monaco, in collaboration with the YVES SAINT LAURENT Museum in Marrakech, which initiated it in 2024, is dedicating an exhibition to them today from both a botanical and artistic perspective.
Spontaneously present in the "torrid zone" of our globe and markers of aridity, cacti constitute an ideal object of study to understand the progressive diffusion of the abundance of tropical flora in the West through expeditions, explorations and the explosion of horticulture in the 19th century . Shaking up, by their extravagance, our representation of plants, these plants were quickly reproduced in many botanical works and entered the collections of prestigious gardens. These plants, deceptively easy to cultivate, are collected and are at the origin of remarkable gardens from California to the Canary Islands by way of the Riviera. The exhibition pays particular attention to the latter through old and contemporary photographs, but also documents and drawings.
The aesthetics of cacti have fascinated many artists, particularly in the early 20th century and particularly in the interwar period. Their originality, sometimes evocative, made cacti and other succulents transgressive and inspiring figures for architects, photographers, designers, but also artists and creators, and even filmmakers who populated their settings with their iconic graphics. Few plant families have been the subject of so many artistic transpositions. The exhibition offers a broad overview, bringing together works as different as an Eisenstein film, a Gufram coat rack, and a drawing created by David Hockney on an iPad!
Sliding successively from the scientific register to an artificial, sometimes strange, even threatening, exhibition escapes from the confined interior of the museum to continue in the gardens of the Villa Sauber transformed for the occasion into a spectacular cactus garden thanks to the help of the Exotic Garden of Monaco.