Festivals and Films

Dutch Flowers

From 05 Apr 2011 to 04 Sep 2011

6 April-5 September. Including nine uplifting floral paintings from the Rijksmuseum collection, this exhibition focuses on the fact that in 17th-century Holland cut flowers were a luxury associated with the country's elite.

Introduced from Asia around 1600, the anemone, crocus, hyacinth and tulip became more valuable than gold or diamonds, resulting in "Tulip mania" in 1630 when a prized tulip bulb was worth the same as an Amsterdam canal house.

Artists were quick to cash in on the vogue, and a flurry of luxurious floral paintings were produced at the time, leading to the bizarre situation of people commissioning works of art because they couldn't afford cut flowers.

Daily 07.00-20.00