Vasantam. Basant. Spring. A time to put away the winter greys and take a deep breath before the onslaught of summer. About now, the earth itself seems to get in the spirit of things by spreading a crazy quilt of colours over the landscape. Flowers don’t care where they bloom, whether in a perfumed garden behind walls or a scrawny shrub on a dusty traffic island. And just the sight of one nodding in the breeze is enough to make your heart sing. No wonder, artists and poets turn again and again to nature’s bouquet and find new shades to enrapture them each time. Nineteenth-century botanical illustrations, the flower-stained canvases of Madhubani, scientific tomes with startlingly pretty diagrams of stamen and seed. For this Spotlight, we bring you all the art dedicated to capturing the ineffable beauty of a flower as it opens itself up to the possibilities of spring.
Flowers for Spring
India's gardens in full bloom
