
The Face of War–Silent
2003 · Colored pencil on paper
19 1/4 × 27" (48.9 × 68.6 cm)
Museum of Modern Art

Herman de Vries is a Dutch artist and botanist whose practice integrates systematic observation of natural systems with sculptural and installations employing found materials, seeds, and living plants. Working since the 1950s within the postwar avant-garde, he developed a rigorous methodology that treats the artist as a documentarian of ecological patterns rather than a creator of form. His work combines scientific precision with poetic restraint, often presenting collections, mappings, and cultivated environments that reveal hidden orders in nature.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago