What happened
Van Gogh painted this London version in Arles in 1888, in connection with preparing rooms for Gauguin.
UNDERSTAND
Sunflowers
Digital image: National Gallery, London (via Wikimedia Commons) · Public Domain · commercial use permitted · View source ↗
Why it is painted this way
A centered vase and horizontal tabletop steady an irregular spreading bouquet.
The light you just noticed
Thick paint and varied yellows create luminosity without elaborate modeling.
What color is doing
Lemon, ochre, and orange-brown share one world, accented by small greens.
Where it comes from
Several versions exist; this is the 1888 painting in the National Gallery, London.
Why it is remembered
Bloom and decline coexist: vivid color makes time visible rather than erasing it.
What did it leave with you?
Where next · WHERE TO
Keep wandering
01
Stay nearby · Van Gogh’s flowers
Irises
Vincent van Gogh · 1889
Compare yellow vitality with blue-violet
02
Go farther · sunflowers
Farm Garden with Sunflowers
Gustav Klimt · 1907
Return the flowers to a garden
03
Change direction · Arles
The Bedroom
Vincent van Gogh · 1888
Enter a bedroom from the same period