Her magnificent, deceptively realistic floral still lifes with exotic plants and fruit, butterflies and insects already became sought-after and expensive collector's items during her lifetime. Demand was so great that the Amsterdam painter could afford to produce merely a few works a year. As the daughter of the renowned professor of anatomy and botany, Frederik Ruysch, the first female member of the Confrerie Pictura, court painter in Düsseldorf, lottery game winner and the mother of eleven children, she was an exceptional figure in her time. The Alte Pinakothek will present the world's first major monographic exhibition of her work. Discover the wondrous world of Rachel Ruysch between art and science, perfected fine painting and artistic freedom amidst illustrious patrons in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Florence.
Exhibition organized by Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art | 13 April 2025 – 27 July 2025
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts | 23 August 2025 – 07 December 2025
Curators: Bernd Ebert (Alte Pinakothek Munich), Robert Schindler (Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio), Anna C. Knaap (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Research Assistant Alte Pinakothek Munich: Selvi Göktepe
The exhibition is held under the patronage of Sophie Prinzessin von Bayern.
