Post-Impressionism

Sunflowers

Vincent van Gogh, 1888–89

Sunflowers is a series of still lifes of sunflowers in a vase painted by Vincent van Gogh in Arles in 1888–89. The best-known version, from August 1888, is in the National Gallery, London; a January 1889 repetition is in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1888–89
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 92.1 × 73 cm (London version)
Collection: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Movement: Post-Impressionism

What you are looking at

The image here pairs two of the most famous versions side by side. On the left is the canvas Vincent van Gogh painted in Arles in August 1888, now in the National Gallery, London. On the right is the repetition he made of it in January 1889, now in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Both show the same earthenware vase on the same narrow table, crowded with sunflowers at every stage of life: a few fresh heads with bright petals, others turning to seed, some drooping on their stalks with their petals curled and brown.

This is a picture made almost entirely of yellow. Van Gogh set yellow flowers in a yellow vase against a yellow wall, separated only by a band of ochre for the table and a thin blue-green line. He signed it on the vase itself: "Vincent," in blue.

The series

There are seven versions of sunflowers in a vase from Arles. Van Gogh painted four in August 1888 to decorate the room of the Yellow House where his friend Paul Gauguin would stay. One of those was destroyed in Japan in 1945; another is in a private collection; one, with a blue-green background, is in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich; and the fourth is the London canvas. In January 1889, after the crisis in which he cut his ear, he made three repetitions: the Amsterdam picture, one in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and one in the Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo.

He did not regard these as copies. He wrote to his brother Theo that he wanted the sunflowers to hang as the wings of a triptych beside his portrait of Madame Roulin, La Berceuse.

Looking closely

The difference between the two versions is worth the side-by-side look. In London the background is a paler, greener yellow and the brushwork is crisp; in Amsterdam the background is a warmer, more saturated yellow and the paint is a little flatter. The seed heads in both are built from thick, raised dabs of paint, so the centers literally stand out from the canvas. Some of the yellow, made with chrome yellow, has darkened over time, which is why parts of the London picture look browner than Van Gogh intended.

What do the sunflowers mean?

For Van Gogh sunflowers stood for gratitude and for the south, and he associated them with Gauguin's friendship. The wilting heads in the same vase as fresh ones also carry a quiet reminder of transience, an old theme of still-life painting.

Where to see them

London's National Gallery and Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum show their versions permanently. See also Irises, Almond Blossoms and The Starry Night.

Questions & answers

Where are van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings?

Five of the seven Arles vase versions are in public or known collections: the National Gallery, London; the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; the Neue Pinakothek, Munich; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo. One is privately owned, and one was destroyed in Japan in 1945.

Why did van Gogh paint so many Sunflowers?

He painted the first four in August 1888 to decorate the guest room of the Yellow House in Arles for Paul Gauguin. In January 1889 he made three repetitions, partly to recover after his breakdown and because he planned to hang them as a triptych with his portrait La Berceuse.

What do van Gogh's Sunflowers symbolize?

Van Gogh linked sunflowers with gratitude, with the light of the south and with his friendship with Gauguin. Showing fresh, fading and seeding heads together also echoes the still-life tradition of transience, though Van Gogh's letters stress color and decoration more than symbolism.

More by the artist

Vincent van Gogh

All works →

Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette

Vincent van Gogh · 1886

A café terrace glows yellow under a lit awning on a cobbled street at night, beneath a deep blue sky scattered with stars — Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888 — Café Terrace at Night
Vincent van Gogh · September 1888

Five peasants with coarse faces share a dish of potatoes and pour coffee at a small table under a hanging oil lamp in a dark cottage — Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885 — The Potato Eaters
Vincent van Gogh · April–May 1885

Black crows fly low over a wind-tossed golden wheat field under a dark, stormy blue sky, with three paths cutting through the wheat — Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, July 1890 — Wheatfield with Crows
Vincent van Gogh · July 1890

A huge bouquet of blue-violet irises with long green leaves bursts from an ochre vase against a bright yellow wall, stems spilling onto the table — Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890 — Irises (Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background)
Vincent van Gogh · 1890

An old man in a blue suit sits hunched on a wooden chair by a small fire, fists pressed to his eyes — Vincent van Gogh, At Eternity's Gate, 1890 — At Eternity's Gate
Vincent van Gogh · 1890

Swirling blue and yellow night sky with glowing stars and a crescent moon above a sleeping village and a dark flame-like cypress — Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889 — The Starry Night (van Gogh)
Vincent van Gogh · 1889

A red-bearded man in a grey felt hat, lilac jacket outlined in cobalt and a pale blue bow tie looks out against a vivid blue background — Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (or Portrait of Theo van Gogh), 1887 — Portrait of Theo van Gogh (Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat)
Vincent van Gogh · 1887

Also painted in 1888

The same year

A red-bearded man in a blue smock holds a palette and brushes beside an easel, looking out with a tense stare against a pale background — Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1887–88 — Self-Portrait as a Painter
Vincent van Gogh · 1887–88

An empty billiard table stands in a café with red walls, a green ceiling and glowing gas lamps, a few customers slumped at tables — Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888 — The Night Café
Vincent van Gogh · 1888

Kindred works

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Knotted branches covered in white and pale pink almond flowers spread across a flat turquoise-blue sky — Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom, 1890 — Almond Blossom
Vincent van Gogh · 1890

A red-bearded man in a pale blue jacket gazes sideways against a background of swirling blue and turquoise brushstrokes — Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889 — Self-Portrait (1889, Musée d'Orsay)
Vincent van Gogh · 1889

A pale green wooden footbridge arches across a pond crowded with white and pink water lilies, framed by dense green foliage — Claude Monet, Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899 — Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies
Claude Monet · 1899

A skull-faced figure clutches its face on a railed road beneath a swirling blood-red sky over a dark blue fjord — Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893 — The Scream
Edvard Munch · 1893

A wild-eyed gray-haired giant crouches in darkness, biting into the headless, bloodied body he clutches in both hands — Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son, c. 1819–1823 — Saturn Devouring His Son
Francisco Goya · c. 1819–1823

A pale young woman in a silver dress floats on her back in a green stream, palms up and lips parted, as flowers drift from her hand — John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851–52 — Ophelia
John Everett Millais · 1851–52

A woman in a white dress holds a green parasol on a grassy rise against a blue, cloud-streaked sky while a small boy stands behind the hill — Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875 — Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son
Claude Monet · 1875