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Florists Create Giant Living Painting with 26,500 Real Flowers

The National Gallery in London is in the midst of celebrating the iconic Dutch flower paintings of the early 17th and late 18th century. To accompany this beautiful occasion, the Flower Council of Holland created a contemporary work of living art—a massive floral still life that’s constructed entirely out of 26,500 real blooms.

The installation is located just outside of the art museum in London’s famous Trafalgar Square. It’s called A Still Life of Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase and pays tribute to Dutch artist Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder's masterpiece of the same name.

To recreate the painting, nearly 30 florists worked for two days straight. They began with a huge digital print to act as their guide during the labor-intensive process, which included 100 blocks of florist foam and 26 different types of flowers: six varieties of tulips; four types of peonies; three species of carnations; six types of freesias; six varieties of calla lily; and four types of roses. To keep the flowers looking fresh, the piece has a built-in water irrigation system.

Check out how the entire thing came together in the video, below.

Here's the original painting the installation is based on:

And here's the Flower Council's living recreation in all its glory:

Flower Council of Holland: Website | Instagram | Facebook
via [Creative Boom]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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