MURA · THE COLLECTION

Unruly Stems

Five round nasturtium leaves, three dark and two pale, on stems that cross and wander over a peach ground, and one orange flower at the end of the longest stem, bottom right. It is drawn flat, like a print, with no shadow. The stems are the drawing; the leaves are the colour.

Mura Studio · 2026 · Botanical illustration · Contemporary · story written 25 September 2026

What is going on

Nasturtiums grow like this: every leaf on its own long stalk, going where it likes, with the flowers arriving late and low. The picture takes that habit and makes a composition of it. The stems form a loose green script across the page, the leaves are held out like plates to catch the light, and the flower is the full stop.

How to look at it

Trace the stems. They all lead back to one point near the bottom of the picture, where the plant meets its pot or its ground, and from there they fan out. The two pale leaves are painted with their veins showing, as if lit from behind; the three dark ones are lit from the front. Then look at the empty peach space, which is more than half the picture and is the reason the leaves feel like they are moving.

Why it is in Mura

Wild Growth, mood verdant. It is the collection's botanical print, in the tradition of the flat, cut-out plant pictures of the mid-twentieth century, and on a television it is the greenest thing in the room.