Rae George — Contemporary Floral Painter | Rebel Flora & Energy Painting.

Based in York, UK, Rae George is a contemporary floral painter creating bold, vibrant, and expressive works that fuse historical inspiration with modern energy. Rooted in the Dutch Golden Age, her paintings are influenced by the women artists of the seventeenth century — insurgents, survivors, and innovators who fought to have their voices seen.

In her work, flowers are rebels, warriors, and agents of resilience. Rae’s studio is both battlefield and stage, where each canvas becomes a choreography of survival. Every brushstroke is a step, every bloom moves with purpose, advancing, retreating, and flourishing across the surface. She welds paint, layers vibrant colour, and creates compositions that pulse with movement, energy, and defiance.

Her paintings explore themes of motherhood, survival, memory, and personal history, capturing the tension between fragility and strength. The studio becomes a space where life’s battles are transformed into visual poetry — where vibrant colour, movement, and form express endurance and hope.

Through expressive floral painting, energy painting, and contemporary still life, Rae George creates works that invite viewers to witness both beauty and defiance. Each piece carries the legacy of historical women painters while reflecting modern experiences of life, motherhood, and resilience.

Meet the Artist

Rae George is a British painter based in York, known for her vibrant, expressive floral, figurative, and landscape paintings. Combining art history with her own life experiences, Rae’s work explores the depths of vulnerability, strength, and resilience. Energy is the thread that suspends her paintings in time, whether through contemporary floral art, figurative oil paintings, or modern landscape compositions.

Ever striving for a deeper sense of self, Rae uses vivid brushstrokes and layered colours to evoke memory, emotion, and the beauty of the everyday. She describes her work as ‘contemporary heritage’, where historic influence and modern expression come together to reflect the human experience across generations. Rae’s fascination with the Dutch Golden Age and the role of women in art history informs much of her practice.

In her latest series, Rebel Flora, Rae explores the parallels between human experience and nature. Like flowers that push through cracks, survive harsh weather, and thrive for generations, her paintings celebrate resilience, growth, and quiet power. Her work is deeply personal, inspired by people around her, the music that shapes her memory, and the everyday moments that shape life. Each painting combines these inspirations with the elegance and richness of 17th-century Dutch floral compositions, transforming contemporary oil paintings into meaningful, expressive, and timeless works of art.

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Women Artists since 1900 Has their role changed?

This book brings to light the struggle women artists have faced in becoming recognised for their work, and the struggle that still goes on today Women Artists Since 1900 also looks to male artists as inspiration, citing Henri Matisse and his understanding of colour as a crucial influence on Rae George's practice. This text forms an excellent understanding of the role of gender in today's contemporary artworld through a critical understanding of our art histories.

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