Tuesday 5 May 2009

ABC Wednesday, P for Panorama, Netherlands






 
 
 

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Click on photos and slide to enlarge them.

The Van den Ende Panorama is a cylindrical painting depicting the Flower Bulb District in the fifties of the last century. The painting shows historical buildings, views and detailed pictures of the life and labour during this period.



Work on this Panorama started in 1997 and continued to at least April 2008. Mainly during two months in the spring, the pictorial artist Leo van den Ende was engaged in painting this 4 by 63 metres large work of art. During that period, the Panorama was open to the public at Panorama Tulipland in Voorhout Until April 2008, the painter had been working on the Panorama for 9000 hours and 11 years

Why this Panorama?
This is what the painter says:

"A destructive process that has affected the Flower Bulb District since the nineteen - fifties has caused the disappearance of many farms, flower bulb sheds, buildings, houses, windmills, etc. that were characteristic to the district. Also large tracts of land formerly used for flower bulb cultivation have been sacrificed to the expansion of the towns and villages in the district.
A growing group of people, including myself, who are increasingly concerned as they witness this process unfold, strongly believe that one ought to treat one's cultural heritage with care and respect, and we should make a concerted effort to stop the process and conserve what is still there".

Growing bulbs is a very interesting job in the west of the Netherlands, because the soil is exceptionally suitable for it. As soon as the flowers are fully grown, they will be cut off without their stems. The flowers are beautiful but will be used for decorations. The bulbs are intended for export.



 
 
 

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ABC is created by Denise Nesbitt.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with P.

41 comments:

Vicki Lane said...

What a beautiful representation of a peaceful and orderly world! Thank you, Reader Wil!

Rune Eide said...

There are many lessons her for those who want to read them - once more tulips and the Netherlands go "hand in hand".

PS I have not had the opportunity to offer my sympathy with you for the mad attack on the Royal Family and the death of the innocent people. I do so now.

Miss_Yves said...

Ces toiles sont magnifiques : quel talent et quel travail !
Mon fils nous a rapporté des bulbes de tulipes d'Amsterdam .
Ne vous excusez pas de m'écrire en Anglais, cela ne me dérange pas,j'aime pratiquer et lire l'Anglais!
Où irez-vous, en France ?
A Mulhouse , en Alsace, il y a un musée des panoramas .
Je suis profondément désolée pour le drame qui a eu lieu dans votre pays .

Rune Eide said...

Thank you for the comment, but my "proper P" is here. I think you'll recognize a thing or two...

Mara said...

Nice photos!
I have unfortunately not been to see it yet.

Miss_Yves said...

www.mulhouseum.uha.fr/site/medias/_fiche_pdf/MPP-TdP-014.pdf

Carol Murdock said...

That's really lovely Wil..Thanks!

Xoxo,
Carol

Anonymous said...

That is an amazing painting. And to have worked on it for so many years. Wow.

Elizabeth said...

This is so beautiful and fascinating.
Thank you for showing it to us!

anthonynorth said...

Another spectacular post - a look back to a much better world.

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi R Wil,
Glad that I can enjoy the P from Panorama of Holland, Yes this is Holland in my feelings too:)

Please come and visit my abc-P, you are welcome (I missed you!)

Greetings from JoAnn /Holland

Granny Smith said...

I recall how beautiful the Netherlands tulips were when we visited during tulip season. This cylindrical piece of art is fascinating.

Janice Thomson said...

I love this painting and have read about it before. Truly an amazing piece of work.

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Lovely panorama, Wil. Thanks for sharing it.

Etje said...

Voor dat te schilderen moet je wel engelengeduld hebben denk ik, maar is prachtig.

Groetjes

Cloudia said...

Yes! Preserve this lovely history!
Aloha, Wil

Marie Reed said...

I sat mesmerized by this slideshow! It panned so beautifully into each earthy yet vibrant piece! Wonderful!

Jeannette StG said...

Incredible, 11 years of his life! Also, the cylindrical form poses some interesting vantage point/perspective problems... I didn't know about this piece - thank you for sharing, Wil:)

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Such a BIG painting. Imagine the artist painstakingly working on it for so many years.

Jo said...

I'm having a 'deja vu' moment here, and it will bug me all day!I'm sure I saw this artist working on one of the panels on one of our frequent trips to Holland (conected with the bulb industry)but I'm sure the last time we went was not later than 1994.
I'm now worried my long term memory is on the way out !!
But whether I actually saw the start of the work or not, the finished project is a triumph.

Rose said...

As always, a fascinating post! I always think of tulips when I think of the Netherlands. What a shame the Flower Bulb District has been victimized by urban sprawl. We have much the same problem in my area where rich, fertile farm ground is purchased by developers to build more houses and more shopping malls. This panoramic work of art must be quite a sight to see.

Sherrie said...

Hi!
Awesome Panorama! I can agree with the artist about things disappearing for the sake of progress. Better get it copied some way before it all disappears! Thanks for all the info and sharing this beautiful series of photos. Have a great day!!

Sherrie

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Wonderful work.
Thanks for sharing

Christina, Sweden said...

Wonderful panorama pictures from NL! Love the colour-scale (hope you understand what i mean...)
And all those lovely Dogs on your blog :-)

penny said...

This is a wonderful painting, Wil. It is sad to loose the wonderful farmland that is perfect for growing. We have the same problem in the US. Someday we will run out of rich farmland and have to import all our food.

Joy said...

What a beautiful work it must be wonderful to experience it close up.

Carol said...

The panorama is a beautiful piece of art... it is good that the artist is painting this...so much cultural history is destroyed every day in the name of progress....we see this happening over here as well...

Unknown said...

wow. What a very, very beautiful painting. Or series of paintings! I am so glad you shared this today! I just love coming here and learning something new and fascinating each time I visit! It is always a pleasure to come!

DeniseinVA said...

Great post and enjoyed all the information. Thanks for sharing it. It is my hope to one day see the tulip fields and travel through the Netherlands.

jay said...

Yep, the Netherlands is very much like our own fenland! Understandably so, since Dutch engineers drained them for us! We even have the style of architecture they brought over with them. It does add interest to the area!

EG CameraGirl said...

Lovely panorama. Bulb production is fascinating to me. Ottawa, Canada's capital, is magnificent in spring because of all the tulip bulbs the city plants every year.

Unknown said...

Wow, mooie flower bed. I was in there but I forgot the name of the place. Groetjes!

kml said...

Wow - those flower beds are so beautiful! So orderly and perfect - a work of art in themselves!

Powell River Books said...

What a labour of love. My contribution this week is a pool. I invite you to come over and float around on my pool toy. - Margy

Tumblewords: said...

How wonderful this is! Amazing and so forward looking to preserve that portion of life that will soon (and sadly) be gone. Thanks for posting this!

Etje said...

Wil, hier gisteren geen regen gezien hoor, wel een ganse dag grijs.
Nu is er geen wolkje aan de lucht te zien dus hopelijk ee nmooie dag.

Groetjes

pictureeachday said...

This must be amazing to see in person! It looks gorgeous in your photos. I was wondering as I watched the slideshow how long it would take him to paint the whole thing.. 11 years already! I didn't guess that long. That is real perseverance!

photowannabe said...

Wonderful choice for the letter P. Beautiful workmanship and very interesting. It is a true labor of love. I wish I could someday see the tulips of your country.

SandyCarlson said...

Panoramas are interesting because they make the view the center of the work.

These prints are gorgeous.

Inday said...

All these memes will all keep less busy people busy. But as we are getting older, we do need mental stimulation, least, we'll contract Alzheimer, dementia, amnesia and all other Mannasseh's (forgetfulness) syndrome that even a pen tucked behind our ears, we can't remember. lol.

Anyway, Ma'am, this is very interesting story you tell about Tulips in The Netherlands. I met a friend through Yahoo a very long time ago, and she sent me pictures of Tulips from your country. They are dainty and beautiful. I'm sure, Australia is one of the importers of tulips from your country.

I think all countries suffer the way yours do in the name of Prosperity. That adversely affected the balance of our ecology due to needless and ruthless killing of our natural resources that help protect our environment.

Meantime, I'd say, Thank you very much for visiting my Morphing Words by poetry.
I am truly touched by your words and encouragement as well. The story I wrote there was my ideal life of how should my marriage would be to last like yours. So I just keep my dreams burning in my soul through poetry.

Again, thank you for the honour of your visit.

Let me include a bit of yours in my new blog I have just created. This will take for awhile to complete though, my blog comments

Rajesh said...

Beautiful paintings.