Science meets art in this ground-breaking exhibition revealing an unusual and previously unexplored aspect of Charles Darwin’s legacy – the impact of his theories upon artists of the late nineteenth century.
Developed by The Fitzwilliam Museum in association with the Yale Center for British Art, Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts offers an intriguing new perspective on the cultural resonance of Darwin’s theories.
This landmark exhibition explores both Darwin’s interest in the visual arts and the vast range of artistic responses to his revolutionary ideas, through an astonishingly diverse selection of exhibits from around the world.
Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts is arranged in a sequence of thematic sections. Together they highlight the significance of visual traditions for Darwin, and the often surprising ways in which Darwin’s revolutionary theories inspired artists in the later nineteenth century.
It brings together a fascinating range of paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints, photographs and sculptures, from collections of major galleries and museums in Europe and America. Some of the paintings are by famous artists such as Turner, Frederick Church and the French Impressionists. Other spectacular works by lesser-known artists such as Bruno Liljefors, Félicien Rops and American landscapists will be a revelation to visitors. Art works will be seen in juxtaposition with scientific material of all sorts, from geological maps and botanical teaching diagrams to fossils, minerals, and ornithological specimens. They reveal the many interactions between natural science and art during this period.
Martin Johnson Heade, Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds, 1871, (detail), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Gift of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
Darwin’s Eye shows the traditions of natural history and illustration that influenced the young Darwin, and the visual stimuli he drew from the fine arts, not least the collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Find out more …
The History of the World features grand landscapes and scenes of prehistory inspired by new research in geology and paleontology, in which Darwin himself was immersed.
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The Struggle for Existence reflects Darwin’s vision of the ruthless conflict among species which led to ‘natural selection’, or ‘the survival of the fittest’. Find out more …
The Descent of Humankind examines artistic responses to the theory of human evolution from an ape-like ancestor, with which Darwin was so closely identified in the public mind. Find out more …
Animal Kin presents the other side of the coin: the implications of evolution for our view of the psychology of other species. Find out more …
Darwin, Beauty and Sexual Selection highlights Darwin’s notions of beauty in nature, in particular as it relates to courtship display among animals. Find out more …
Darwin and Impressionism presents a radical interpretation of the impact of Darwin’s theories on some of the greatest artists of the 19th century. Find out more …