Back | Events
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art at the Toledo Museum of Art
Rachel Ruysch (Dutch, 1664–1750), Flowers in a Glass Vase. Oil on canvas, 1704. 33 x 26 3/8 in. (83.8 x 67 cm). Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Joseph M. de Grimme Memorial Fund, et al., 1995.67
Rachel Ruysch (Dutch, 1664–1750) and Michiel van Musscher (Dutch, 1645–1705), Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 1692. 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm). Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Adele Veronica Satkus Bequest, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund, Lila Acheson Wallace, Women and the Critical Eye, Charles and Jessie Price, and Henry and Lucy Moses Fund Inc. Gifts, Victor Wilbour Memorial Fund, Hester Diamond Gift, and funds from various donors, 2023 (2023.91)
Sat, Apr 12 - Sun, Jul 27 2025
Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art presents the first monographic exhibition of the eminent Dutch flower still life painter Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). At a time when women’s access to careers as professional artists was severely limited, Ruysch nevertheless became highly successful and widely renowned.
She was born into a well-to-do family and was the daughter of the renowned professor of anatomy and botany Frederik Ruysch, who apprenticed her to one of the premier flower still life painters of the day. She married a painter, had eleven children, became the first female member of the artist’s guild in The Hague and a court artist to one of the most important German nobles, won the lottery (twice!), was among the highest-paid artists of her time, and continued to paint until she was 83 years of age.
Despite the great success she experienced during her lifetime, Ruysch has never received the attention she deserves. Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art explores her fascinating life and work for the first time and juxtaposes them with those of her sister Anna, who was an accomplished flower painter in her own right but is all but forgotten today.
The exhibition brings together her most important works from European and American public and private collections, including pieces that have never been exhibited publicly as well as newly discovered paintings. Visitors are invited to experience Ruysch’s masterful brushwork, her illusionistic depictions of the natural world, the astonishing botanical diversity, and the teeming insect and animal life in her compositions. The exhibition highlights how her work reflects the intersections between painting, nature, and science.