Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers, or of the flowering of plants. I originally called this painting ‘La mort de Flore’ (The death of Flora). Flora was originally worshipped as the goddess of seeds and fruit. Later, she became the goddess of all that flowers’.When was Flora first worshipped? We know that her festival the Floralia, was introduced to Rome around 200 BC. But when was Flora last worshipped, was last taken seriously?

My painting shows Flora dying. A peaceful death amongst her flowers (as a botanist friend of mine once commented), but then, maybe she does not die at all. In the country where I live, the end of autumn brings heavy frost that kills the season’s last flowers. Winter’s deep snowfalls, cover the landscape until the end of April. Spring comes, and the flora that was destroyed by the cold is brought back to life. Brought back to life? In fact, no, since the life of the flowers was never really lost at all.