SELBY GARDENS ANNOUNCES 2026 JEAN & ALFRED GOLDSTEIN EXHIBITION
ALEXANDER CALDER: THE NATURE OF MOVEMENT
September 16, 2025 | Sarasota, FL ─ Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is pleased to announce the 10th anniversary of the annual Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, Alexander Calder: The Nature of Movement, which will be on view February 8 through May 31, 2026, at the Downtown Sarasota campus.
The exhibitions in the Goldstein Series present the work of major artists and their connection to nature in the context of a botanical garden. The exhibitions combine original artworks in the galleries of the Richard and Ellen Sandor Museum of Botany & the Arts with horticultural vignettes, inspired by the featured artists and their work, in the Display Conservatory and throughout the outdoor gardens of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus. The vignettes make use of Selby Gardens’ outstanding living plant collections, as well as our spectacular bayfront setting.
Calder’s work is a great source of interest to the team at Selby Gardens. His fascination with energy and motion, coupled with his exploration of suspension and equilibrium, provides creative inspiration for the dynamic display of epiphytes, or air plants. Selby Gardens is a leading center for the study of air plants and is home to the best scientifically documented collections of living epiphytic orchids and bromeliads in the world.
The Calder exhibition at Selby Gardens will highlight the artist’s use of abstract forms rooted in nature and emphasize his interest in science and engineering. The exhibition will also explore Calder’s enchantment with the circus, stemming from his studies of performers and animals at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1925. The circus is a subject of great local interest in Sarasota, which became the winter quarters of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1927.
“It is an honor to present our 2026 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, dedicated to the pioneering work of Alexander Calder,” said Jennifer Rominiecki, President and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. “This exhibition will offer a thoughtful exploration of Calder’s profound engagement with the natural sciences and the performing arts—particularly his fascination with the circus, which holds special significance in Sarasota’s cultural narrative. We are proud to continue advancing our interdisciplinary mission through this meaningful presentation as The Living Museum®.
About Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history. Established by forward-thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Sarasota campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment. Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus features the world’s first net positive energy botanical garden complex, generating more energy than it consumes. The Historic Spanish Point campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. One of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants and active archaeology that is interpreted for and open to the public, it celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida history. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is also accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Selby Gardens was selected for Time magazine’s annual list of the “World’s Greatest Places 2024.” For more information visit www.selby.org.
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