Sunflowers

Open petals, heavy seed heads and bending stems give these sunflowers different ages and shapes. Their colours sit close to those of the vase and background. Van Gogh separates them with shifts in yellow, dark centres and the direction of his brushmarks. Vincent van Gogh painted this picture in Arles, southern France, in 1888. He was preparing his house for Paul Gauguin, another artist, and hoped they would work together there. This painting and another sunflower picture were hung in Gauguin’s room. Look at the raised touches around the seed heads and the longer strokes along petals and stems. The thick paint gives different parts of the flowers distinct surfaces. On the left side of the vase, the name Vincent sits just above the blue line dividing its two yellow bands. Flowers naturally change as they open, lose their petals and turn to seed. Van Gogh kept those stages together in the same bunch. The painting combines his attention to that changing subject with the visible movements of the brush.