This year, nineteen teams competied for the best and brightest display honored the town’s most famous son, Vincent Van Gogh.

The event has come a long way since it first began as a humble parade of flower-covered bicycles and horse-drawn carts in 1936. Originally founded to celebrate Queen Wilhemina’s birthday, the festival quickly became an annual tradition as the floats grew in size and became more intricate each year, according to the parade’s website. These days, Zundert dedicates 81 acres (33 hectares) of land to grow about 600,000 dahlias of 50 different varieties, all to cover the floats for the Bloemencorso.

In honor of the 125th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death, this year’s parade floats drew inspiration from the painter’s palate and subjects, including his iconic self–portraits. However, this was only the third time since the parade began where the float designers have followed a set theme, according to the parade’s website.

Along with the Bloemencorso Zundert, other celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death have been planned throughout the Netherlands and Auvers-sur-Oise, the French village where he spent his last days before committing suicide at the age of 37. As the artist died penniless, with his work unrecognised, he might have been surprised to see his portrait rendered in thousands of dahlias grown right in his childhood backyard.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine, via HortiBiz