the Tulips

Groups of children from primary schools, disabled people from institutions, the elderly and many more participated in the Tulips project. Prior to the start of the project artists, teachers, and group leaders spoke to the participants about different aspects of art.

All of the participants were given paper and pencils and asked to create their own version of a tulip. So far more than 12,000 drawings of tulips have been made all over the place. From every set of drawings, one was selected for a follow-up.

For the next stage of the project, students from professional and vocational schools made steel models of the selections. They also constructed concrete blocks for the base and helped with the painting of all of the tulips. Now you can see a web of tulips growing from the harbor in the west to the highway in the east on the south side of Rotterdam.

When our city became the Rotterdam European Youth Capital in 2009, The Tulips served as the opening symbol. More importantly, The Tulips is an ongoing project.