Van Gogh Sunflowers - see them all
Vincent van Gogh’s most iconic masterpieces are now together again in this virtual exhibition blog. In the fall of 1888, Vincent van Gogh’s friend and fellow painter Paul Gauguin finally came to Arles, France. This was the small town Vincent was hoping to turn into an art Mecca of sorts. Gauguin’s room was decorated with various pieces of Van Gogh’s artwork, including the now famous painting of sunflowers. This would be the one arranged in a ceramic vase against a yellow background.
For two months they would talk and drink while Vincent would try to convince Gauguin that Arels could become the place to launch new art and artists. They had spoken of this idea in Paris earlier and now was Van Gogh’s chance to convince a substantial artist like Gauguin to help make it happen. However, the visit ended disastrously. They ended up fighting. Gauguin ultimately seemed uninertested and this was a major disappointment to Van Gogh. In their final nights Gauguin spent time at the local bar complaining to the women at the bar (including one Van Gogh fancied) about how much Van Gogh was never going to achieve his dream. As a symbol of defeat in the bull fights in Spain, the triumphant matador cuts off the ear or the tail of the defeated and dying bull as a trophy. Often this trophy is given to some VIP in the audience. Van Gogh, back in his room, sliced off his ear and wrapped it in a small wooden box and walked over to the bar and left it with Gauguin; as if to say YOU WIN. Not long after Van Gogh suffered a mental breakdown and ended up in the hospital. Meanwhile Gauguin headed back to Paris.
It is well documented that Gauguin was impressed with Van Gogh’s paintings of Sunflowers. He in fact painted Van Gogh while Van Gogh was painting sunflowers. Once back in Paris, Gauguin wrote to Van Gogh and asked if he could have the Sunflower painting that was hanging in his room while he was there. It’s unclear if he offered to buy the painting or just “borrow” it. In either case, Van Gogh didn’t want to part with it and decided to paint another copy of it. This began the winding road of Vincent Van Gogh painting multiple works of sunflower art.
Below is a collection of all known Van Gogh paintings that include sunflowers as a main theme. So far there are eleven know sunflower paintings by Vincent Van Gogh:
