Sunflowers
Arles, January 1889
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)
oil on canvas, 95 cm x 73 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Please note: this painting is on view in the Kurokawa wing as part of the exhibition Munch : Van Gogh until 17 January 2016.
Van Gogh looked forward with impatience to the arrival of his friend Gauguin at the ‘Yellow House’ and decided to paint a series of decorative still lifes of sunflowers for his fellow artist. He hoped that the ‘simplicity’ he achieved in them would impress Gauguin.
Van Gogh ultimately completed four still lifes before the end of the sunflower season, two of which were large in size. He made the bouquets steadily larger and eventually changed the dominant blue and yellow colours for ‘the three chrome yellows, yellow ochre and Veronese green and nothing else’, he wrote on 22 January 1889. He demonstrated in this way that it was possible to create an image with numerous variations of a single colour, without any sacrifice of eloquence or form.
Gauguin thought the final painting was extremely successful, ‘a perfect example of a style that is completely Vincent’. Van Gogh had already painted a new version during his friend’s stay and Gauguin later asked for one as a gift, which Vincent was reluctant to provide. He later produced two loose copies, however, one of which is now in the Van Gogh Museum.
See also:
1889 arles painting still life flowers Vincent Van Gogh
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