A Brief History of the Palm Tree In Modern Art

When the Berlin-based art historian and curator Robert Grunenberg was at Art Basel Miami Beach three years ago, he noticed that there were over 60 art works at the fair that referenced palm trees. He returned to Berlin and spent months researching the religious and cultural history of the palm in Western art, and the role it continues to play today in fashion, social media, and ecological preservation. The exhibition will be the inaugural show at his namesake gallery which will open this month in Berlin, as well as at Salon Dahlmann, and feature the work of 20th-century and contemporary artists like John Baldessari, Marcel Broodthaers, Ed Ruscha, Sigmar Polke, David Hockney, and others who have explored the power of the palm. “The palm tree has become the symbol for California as this paradise on earth, the symbol for the America dream,” Grunenberg said, noting that the palm, which was originally imported to the U.S. from Mexico in the 20th century and has a 150-year life expectancy, is slowly dying out in California. The exhibition, “Paradise is Now: Palm Trees in Art,” will be open from April 26th, to June 30th in Berlin. Here, a quick survey of the palm in art.