Red & Yellow Tulip flower art on Canvas in a Red Bijou Frame.

Tulips are a genus of spring-blooming perennial having bulbs as storage organs. The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm colors). They often have a different colored blotch at the base of the petals. Because of a degree of variability within the populations, and a long history of cultivation, classification has been complex and controversial.

Tulips first came to the attention of Westerners in the sixteenth century, when people from Europe who were sent as diplomats to Ottoman courts observed and reported on them. They were rapidly introduced into Europe and became a frenzied commodity during Tulip mania. During Dutch Golden Age paintings, tulips have become associated with the Netherlands-the major producer for world markets-ever since. In 1637, an infection of tulip bulbs by a virus created variegated patterns in their flowers that were much admired and valued today. Truly broken specimens do not exist anymore; however there are close substitutes called Rembrandts because Rembrandt painted some of his time's most well known breaks.

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