James Parkinson Tulip Painting

  • View Dr. Bagan's painting of the James Parkinson Tulip below

The James Parkinson Tulip, a cardinal red species with small, feathered white edges and a white outer base, was designated by the European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA) and other Parkinson’s groups around the world, as the symbol for Parkinson’s disease. In 1980, a Dutch horticulturist afflicted with Parkinson’s disease named the tulip for Dr. James Parkinson, an English doctor who in 1817 first described the condition in an, “Essay on the Shaking Palsy.” The distinctive red tulip was introduced on April 11, 2005 at the ninth World PD Day Conference in Luxembourg as the Worldwide Symbol of Parkinson’s Disease.

James Parkinson Tulip, painted by Barbara Bagan

“Although Alzheimer’s is a disease of loss, of great sadness and anguish, its victims remain susceptible to feelings of joy.”

—Susan Lajeunesse,

Program Director for DayBreak Adult Day Care Center, New York