Upon looking at these paintings one begins to notice aspects that seem to flow from one piece to another. The colors are vibrant and express emotions typically associated with the life of sunflowers: bright yellows of the full bloom to aridUpon looking at these paintings one begins to notice aspects that seem to flow from one piece to another. The colors are vibrant and express emotions typically associated with the life of sunflowers: bright yellows of the full bloom to arid Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers browns of wilting and death; all of the stages woven through these polar opposites are presented. Perhaps this very technique is what draws one into the painting; the fulfillment of seeing all angles of the spectrum of life and in turn reaching a deeper understanding of how all living things are tied together.
There are many pieces within this series of paintings (each is clearly identifiable as a Van Gogh work) in which there are only minor differences that separate them. The overall layout of the painting along with positioning of the actual sunflowers usually remains the same in the similar paintings. Below you can see highlighted areas of difference between two similar sunflower paintings.
Twelve Sunflowers in a VaseTwelve Sunflowers ;To the left you can see two sunflower paintings of the series under the same title; however, these two pieces have some minor differences.
1. ; There are differences in petal structure on a few of the flowers. Located in bubble number one you can see how the second piece has more petal "bulk" and does not follow the sweeping "V" motion as is seen in the first piece.
2. ; The center "eye" of the flower contains different colors. In the first example the center is filled with a greenish yellow, while in the second piece the center is filled with black.
3. ; This is also the case for bubble number three. The leafy structure is yellow in the first piece and resides as light brown in the second piece.
4. ; The leaf located in bubble number four is nearly identical in both pieces; however in the first piece it is overlapped by the large drooping flower and is green in color. In the second piece there is a small but clear gap between the drooping flower and the leaf, and the leaf is black in color.