Today is the 125th death anniversary of the immortal painter Vincent van Gogh. The whimsical artist loved flowers, and in tribute to that love, Keukenhof in the Netherlands, one of the world's largest flower gardens, declared 2015 "Van Gogh Year".
This year's event at Keukenhof honours the artist who has inspired people without pause for 125 years. Its theme is "125 years of inspiration".
In the garden's selfie section, Van Gogh was everywhere among the flowers.
A portrait made of tulips
In the garden, a 250-square-metre image of Van Gogh was made with thousands of tulips. The flower portrait of this astonishing genius of painting was created from short tulips and muscari in 120 man-hours.
A visitor at Keukenhof, praising Van Gogh's paintings, said: "Van Gogh is part of our lives. He had many eccentricities in his personal life, but look how far his work reaches. People came to Keukenhof from all over the world to see Van Gogh's famous flower selfie."
An American visitor, speaking of Van Gogh's love of flowers, said: "I love flowers very much. Van Gogh loved flowers too. I came to Keukenhof to find this great artist in the midst of nature."
Van Gogh's portrait also hung in the reproduction gallery at Keukenhof's Nassau pavilion, alongside pictures of rural life, farming, people and sunflowers.
Pages of Van Gogh's priceless diary also found a place in the gallery, and many had the good fortune to see his famous "Almond Blossom", painted in 1890.
A million visitors
Bart Siemerink, managing director of Keukenhof in the Netherlands, said thousands of tourists from home and abroad come every year to this vast 32-hectare flower kingdom. The spring garden is open to visitors for only eight weeks a year. "But this time the crowds were much bigger, because of Van Gogh. One million visitors came this year," he said.
Keukenhof's flower kingdom is a favourite place of devoted art lovers and nature lovers. By giving Van Gogh a place in the kingdom of flowers, Keukenhof made his 125th death anniversary all the more memorable.
Source: Shykh Seraj. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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