Floresta came into being in 2020, in the hush of lockdown, when an unforeseen stillness slowed the restless pulse of the world. Compelled by an enduring need to create, Maria Lluïsa Aguiló began with the attentive contemplation of a flower called the cyclamen whose poised and delicate movement evokes the liberated dances of Loie Fuller and Isadora Duncan.

From that quiet act of looking blossomed several series, each devoted to a single flower, unfolding through shifting positions and variations. Over time, the project opened outwards, as people began sending the artist images of flowers, which she returned to them transfigured into paintings. And so the garden grows, day after day: each piece becomes a private, meditative rite, painted with the artist’s thoughts turned towards the person who offered the flower. What takes shape is a luminous universe of sensitive forms and expanding natural microcosms, gathering into thousands of floral presences.