Exhibition Report · International · April–June 2026
Rosalia alpina
in EXTINCTION 2026
Rosalia alpina · Fiurdelin · EXTINCTION: Save the Planet 2026 · Gallerium
Rosalia alpina illustration was made because this animal is disappearing. The Alpine Longhorn Beetle — cobalt blue, improbably beautiful, listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List — entered EXTINCTION: Save the Planet 2026, the sixth annual international juried exhibition by Gallerium dedicated entirely to endangered species, ecological collapse, and the art that bears witness to both. The exhibition opened on Earth Day, 22 April 2026.
Fiurdelin’s Rosalia alpina has been selected for EXTINCTION: Save the Planet 2026 — the 6th annual international juried exhibition by Gallerium, running 22 April to 22 June 2026, opening on Earth Day.
| Exhibition | EXTINCTION: Save the Planet 2026 — Gallerium |
| Edition | 6th annual |
| Dates | 22 April – 22 June 2026 (opens Earth Day) |
| Works shown | Rosalia alpina |
| IUCN status | Rosalia alpina: Vulnerable |
| Additional exposure | Artsy global marketplace · The Book of Arts publication |
Rosalia alpina —
Why This Blue Matters
The cobalt blue of Rosalia alpina is one of the most extraordinary colours in European entomology. It serves no obvious evolutionary purpose that biology has fully explained. Yet it simply exists — precise, saturated, completely impractical — on an insect that needs old-growth beech forest to survive and is running out of it.
Old-growth beech woodland is disappearing across central Europe. Rosalia alpina needs very specific trees — mature, standing dead wood, the kind that industrial forestry removes as waste. Without it, the beetle cannot complete its life cycle. So the population fragments. Most people have never seen one. The ones who have tend to describe the encounter the same way: that blue stops you.
“That blue stops you. I don’t fully understand it either. Evolutionary biology doesn’t have a clean answer for it. It’s just there — on an insect smaller than your thumb, in a forest that is disappearing.”
The illustration records the animal in the tradition of natural history draughtsmanship: dorsal view, cream background, the antennae curving back in a long arc. The anatomy is precise because precision is the point. When a species disappears, sometimes a drawing is what remains. That is not a metaphor. It is what happened with the history of botanical illustration — images surviving long after the specimens they recorded.
Rosalia alpina · Digital illustration, Adobe Fresco · 2025
EXTINCTION 2026 —
Art as Witness
EXTINCTION: Save the Planet is now in its sixth year, and Gallerium has built it into one of the most consistently focused international calls in this subject area — not a broad environmental theme show, but a specific annual commitment to endangered species, ecosystem collapse, and the artists who take those subjects seriously. Previous editions have already reached over four million visitors across Gallerium’s platforms.
This edition opens on Earth Day, 22 April 2026, and runs to 22 June. Selected works appear in the online exhibition, in The Book of Arts publication, and on Artsy. For natural history illustration working in the conservation space, that reach matters. A drawing of a vulnerable beetle becomes a different kind of object when international collectors see it alongside photography, painting, and installation from artists working in the same territory.
Why Natural History Illustration
Belongs Here
Natural history illustration has always carried a conservation function, though it was not always called that. The great botanical illustration projects of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were, among other things, records made against the possibility of loss. Artists drew what they feared might disappear. EXTINCTION 2026 makes that function explicit — and the work belongs here because it always did.
The Rosalia alpina Print
The Rosalia alpina illustration is available as a print from the Fiurdelin collection —
the same work now showing in EXTINCTION 2026.
Browse the collection →
About the Exhibition
EXTINCTION: Save the Planet 2026 — Gallerium
Now in its sixth year, EXTINCTION: Save the Planet is Gallerium’s annual international juried exhibition dedicated to endangered species, ecological collapse, and the art that documents both. The 2026 edition opened on Earth Day, 22 April, and runs to 22 June. Selected works appear online, in The Book of Arts publication, and on Artsy for global collector reach. Previous editions have been seen by over four million visitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is EXTINCTION: Save the Planet and who organises it?
EXTINCTION: Save the Planet is an annual international juried exhibition organised by Gallerium, now in its sixth year. It focuses on endangered species, ecosystem collapse, and environmental crisis. The 2026 edition runs from Earth Day, 22 April, to 22 June 2026, with works exhibited online, published in The Book of Arts, and featured on Artsy.
Why is Rosalia alpina listed as vulnerable, and what threatens it?
Rosalia alpina is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because it depends on mature old-growth beech forest — specifically standing dead wood — to complete its life cycle. Industrial forestry removes this habitat as waste material. The beetle’s range is fragmenting across central Europe as old-growth woodland disappears, and isolated populations cannot sustain genetic diversity without connectivity.
How does natural history illustration connect to conservation?
Natural history illustration has served a documentation function since the first printed herbals — recording morphology with enough accuracy that the image survives the specimen. When species disappear, the illustration record is often what remains. EXTINCTION 2026 makes that function explicit: the works submitted are not decorative interpretations but careful observations of animals that are becoming harder to find.
Where can I see the exhibited works?
The work is on view at gallerium.art for the duration of the exhibition, which runs until 22 June 2026. It is also available for purchase through the exhibition. The same illustration is available as a print from the Fiurdelin collection.
Where is this botanical art printed and how is it shipped?
Prints from the Fiurdelin collection are fulfilled through Redbubble’s global production network, with manufacturing facilities in the US, UK, EU, and Australia. Each order is printed at the facility nearest the customer, which shortens delivery times, reduces shipping costs, and lowers the carbon footprint compared to shipping from a single international location.
