Ebru Çiçek 

Necmeddin Okyay created this Ebru Çiçek, or marbled flower, with dyes on water, sometime before his death in 1976. Notice the vibrant red blossoms. The flower, a universal symbol of beauty and transient life, has been depicted across cultures from ancient Egyptian funerary garlands to Renaissance allegories. Yet here, it emerges from the chaotic swirls of Ebru, a traditional Turkish art form, adding a layer of controlled elegance to the unpredictability of marbling. Consider the symbolic weight carried by floral motifs in Ottoman art—often representing paradise, love, and divine beauty. In contrast, the fleeting nature of flowers is a reminder of mortality in European vanitas paintings. Think of how Botticelli's Venus, surrounded by blossoms, embodies both earthly and divine love, a visual echo of the goddess Flora from ancient Roman festivals. The flower, therefore, becomes a powerful symbol, perpetually reborn, each time carrying echoes of its past lives, stirring deep within our cultural memory.