The Artist Plant Conservatory: Living Botanical Archive Links Plants to Artists in New York and Amsterdam

Key facts

• The Artist Plant Conservatory is a living botanical archive founded by Matt Austin and Anke Riesenkamp.
• The project began in 2016 and operates from a greenhouse in New York and the De Proeftuin nursery in Vijfhuizen, Netherlands.
• The collection includes plants that existed in the presence of an artist or were depicted by them.
• A Crassula ovata (jade plant) was acquired in 2019 from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú, New Mexico.
• A Prunus cerasifera (cherry plum) descended from a tree in Van Gogh's childhood garden in Brabant was acquired in 2023 through the Van Gogh House Museum.
• Ivy from Dr. Paul Gachet's garden in Auvers-sur-Oise is planted on the graves of Vincent and Theo van Gogh.
• Cuttings from a yew tree associated with Piet Mondrian were identified with Staatsbosbeheer.
• A fig cutting from Púbol Castle and a cypress cutting from Port Lligat are linked to Salvador Dalí.
• Young oaks from Joseph Beuys's 7000 Oaks project (Kassel, 1982) are in the collection.
• A Begonia maculata linked to Albert Einstein was propagated from cuttings distributed by Helen Dukas after 1955.
• The conservatory accepts donations of plants, cuttings, and grafts.