On her fifteenth and final expedition into the Amazon, in 1988, at the age of 79, Margaret Mee travelled to Anavilhanas, Rio Negro in search of a flower very few had ever seen bloom – the Amazon Moonflower (Strophocactus wittii). By torchlight, she waited for its petals to unfurl: the culmination of a search begun over twenty years earlier, and the last great encounter of her extraordinary life.
Join us for a special evening to relive that moment – one of the most potent in the history of botanical art.
Margaret Mee (1909–1988) was a British-born botanical artist who spent four decades documenting the flora of the Brazilian Amazon by canoe, painting plants that had rarely, if ever, been recorded. She became one of the earliest voices to raise the alarm on Amazon deforestation, using her paintings as a form of activism as much as art.
This event forms part of our Burle Marx season, marking Mee’s close friendship with the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.
Joining us for this special evening are Sue Loram, who travelled with Mee on her final expedition and was present for its extraordinary final hours, and Marion Morrison, co-founder with her late husband Tony Morrison of Nonesuch Expeditions, which published Mee’s diaries and safeguarded her archive. Together they’ll share first-hand memories, rare images, and the story behind one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable botanical quests.
Please note that our talks now begin at 6:30pm, rather than 7pm, giving you more time to enjoy dinner at our award-winning Garden Museum Café. Table reservations are available here. Your talk ticket also includes entry to the Garden Museum’s temporary exhibitions from 6pm on the evening of the talk.
