Dating back to rock art made 25,000 years ago in north-eastern Brazil, through to 17th-century Dutch landscape paintings, to high-definition photographs modified with artificial intelligence, artists have long turned to trees for inspiration. A new book brings together a wide array of work by artists including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Hilma af Klint and William Kentridge. “I am always amazed at how many ways trees can be depicted in art – paintings, sculptures, models, living art, photography, jewellery,” says Tony Kirkham, retired head of the arboretum at Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens, who wrote the introduction to the book. “Each tree has its own character like a person: they are charismatic in their own right.”
