Olafur Eliasson – Herbarium

Olafur Eliasson's Herbarium (2021) is part of a series of 100 unique collages composed of dried and pressed Nymphaea 'Ellisiana' water lilies, mounted on Lanaquarelle handmade paper and presented in a fluorescent artist's frame. The plant species, cultivated by the renowned horticulturist Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac and later made famous through Claude Monet's water garden in Giverny, carries a layered art historical resonance. By selecting a water lily associated with Impressionism and the birth of modern painting, Eliasson establishes a dialogue between botanical material, perception, and the history of landscape representation.

Unlike Monet's immersive painterly surfaces, Eliasson's approach is precise and classificatory. The plant is dried, flattened, and arranged in a manner reminiscent of scientific herbarium archives. Roots, stems, and leaves are fully visible, shifting attention from surface beauty to structure and interconnection. The work operates between aesthetics and system, poetry and taxonomy, reflecting Eliasson's long-standing investigation into how we construct knowledge about nature.

The fluorescent frame, a recurring device in Eliasson's practice, activates the work spatially. It does not merely contain the collage but establishes a perceptual boundary that heightens awareness of viewing conditions. As in many of his installations and editions, color functions as a relational tool rather than decoration, shaping the viewer's experience of space and material.

Herbarium also connects to Eliasson's broader engagement with ecology and public space. While rooted in botanical specificity, the work subtly addresses the politics of cultivation, land use, and environmental stewardship. By presenting a cultivated species historically tied to aesthetic pleasure within a contemporary art context, Eliasson invites reflection on how nature is framed, owned, and mediated.

Published in 2021 in a series of 100 unique collages, each work is hand-signed on a certificate by the artist and publishers, underscoring its status as both a conceptual multiple and an individually composed artwork. Through the convergence of art history, botany, and perceptual inquiry, Herbarium exemplifies Eliasson's sustained exploration of how we see, organize, and inhabit the natural world.

Olafur Eliasson (born 1967 in Copenhagen) is a Danish-Icelandic artist internationally recognized for immersive installations, public interventions, sculptures, and architectural projects that transform light, color, water, and movement into perceptual experiences. Working at the intersection of art, science, and architecture, Eliasson investigates how we see, sense, and construct reality. By inviting active viewer participation, his artworks heighten awareness of perception itself and of our relationship to the surrounding environment.

Central to Eliasson's practice is the idea that perception is not neutral but culturally shaped. As he has stated, the act of seeing is a system that can be negotiated and reconfigured. His large-scale installations often create atmospheric environments that feel elemental and sublime, yet are grounded in natural phenomena and carefully engineered technologies. Projects such as Ice Watch, realized with geologist Minik Rosing, brought melting glacial ice from Greenland to urban public spaces, directly confronting audiences with the material reality of climate change.

In 1995, Eliasson founded Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, an interdisciplinary laboratory bringing together artists, architects, engineers, and craftspeople. Alongside monumental installations, limited edition works play an important role in his oeuvre. Prints, photographs, and sculptural multiples translate the perceptual and environmental concerns of his large-scale projects into more intimate formats, making his conceptual investigations accessible to collectors and institutions.

Olafur Eliasson has represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale and has held major solo exhibitions at leading institutions including Fondation Beyeler, Pinakothek der Moderne, Fondation Louis Vuitton, SFMOMA, and The Museum of Modern Art. His work continues to shape contemporary art discourse around perception, space, and ecological responsibility.