Van Gogh Sunflowers Luminaries

Sunflowers were among Vincent van Gogh’s favorite subjects to paint. Beginning with four still lifes in Paris in 1887, he depicted sunflowers resting on a flat surface.

However, his most famous series was painted in Arles a year later, featuring more than a dozen sunflowers arranged in an earthenware pot. The moment he painted his first bouquet, he proclaimed to his brother Theo, “I’m painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won’t surprise you when it’s a question of painting large Sunflowers.” Excited, he painted four canvases in quick succession.

It was a subject he planned to return to for a large Sunflower series. “If I carry out this idea, there will be a dozen panels,” he wrote. He only completed seven in Arles. Our delightful luminaries are inspired by one of the paintings Vincent did in 1889 from memory to bring some sunny warmth into the cold winter months.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Sunflowers
1889
Oil on canvas