Sunflowers (Van Gogh series)#The Repetitions, January 1889

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file = Vincent Willem van Gogh 127.jpg

| image_upright = 0.9

| title = Sunflowers

| other_language_1 =

| other_title_1 = Fourth Version

| artist = Vincent van Gogh

| year = 1888

| medium = Oil on canvas

| height_metric = 92.2

| width_metric = 73

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| width_imperial =

| metric_unit = cm

| imperial_unit = in

| city = London

| museum = National Gallery

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Sunflowers (original title, in French: Tournesols) is the title of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, made a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. About eight months later, van Gogh hoped to welcome and impress Gauguin again with Sunflowers, now part of the painted Décoration for the Yellow House that he prepared for the guestroom of his home in Arles, where Gauguin was supposed to stay.

The Paris ''Sunflowers''

Little is known of van Gogh's activities during the two years he lived with his brother, Theo, in Paris, 1886–1888. The fact that he had painted Sunflowers already is only revealed in the spring of 1889, when Gauguin claimed one of the Arles versions in exchange for studies he had left behind after leaving Arles for Paris. Van Gogh was upset and replied that Gauguin had absolutely no right to make this request: "I am definitely keeping my sunflowers in question. He has two of them already, let that hold him. And if he is not satisfied with the exchange he has made with me, he can take back his little Martinique canvas, and his self-portrait sent to me from Brittany,Wildenstein at the same time giving me back both my portraitSelfportrait à l'ami Gauguin and the two sunflower canvases which he has taken to Paris. So if he ever broaches this subject again, I've told you just how matters stand."{{cite web|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/571.htm|title=Letter 571 - Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 17 January 1889|access-date=14 June 2009|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224317/http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/571.htm|url-status=live}}

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| image1 = van Gogh - Zwei abgeschnittene Sonnenblumen.jpeg

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| caption1 = Sunflowers, study (F377), Oil on canvas, 21 x 27 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

| image2 = Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers (Metropolitan Museum of Art).jpg

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| caption2 = Sunflowers (F375), Oil on canvas, 43.2 x 61 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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| caption3 = Sunflowers (F376), Oil on canvas, 50 x 60.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Bern

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| caption4 = Sunflowers (F452), Oil on canvas, 60 × 100 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

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The two Sunflowers in question show two buttons each; one of them was preceded by a small study, and a fourth large canvas combines both compositions.

These were van Gogh's first paintings with "nothing but sunflowers"—yet, he had already included sunflowers in still life and landscape earlier.

File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 123.jpg]]

The Arles ''Sunflowers''

In a letter to Theo dating from 21 or 22 August 1888, van Gogh wrote: "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." At the time, he was working on three paintings simultaneously and intended to do more, as he explained to his brother: "in the hope of living in a studio of our own with Gauguin, I'd like to do a decoration for the studio. Nothing but large sunflowers".[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let666/letter.html Letter 666] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715092517/https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let666/letter.html |date=2022-07-15 }} To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 21 or Wednesday, 22 August 1888.

Leaving aside the first two versions, all Arlesian Sunflowers are painted on size 30 canvases.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

= The initial versions, August 1888 =

The versions of the paintings provided by van Gogh in his announcement of his sunflower series do not precisely match every detail supplied by him. The first version differs in size, is painted on a size 20 canvas—not on a size 15 canvas as indicatedDorn 1990, pp. 336–337—and all the others differ in the number of flowers depicted from van Gogh's announcement. The second was evidently enlarged and the initial composition altered by insertion of the two flowers lying in the foreground, center and right.Dorn 1990, pp. 344–348 Neither the third nor the fourth shows the dozen or 14 flowers indicated by the artist, but more—fifteen or sixteen.Dorn 1990, pp. 337–340; 340–343 and van Tilborgh & Hendricks, pp.

These alterations are executed wet-in-wet and therefore considered genuine rework—even the more so as they are copied to the repetitions of January 1889; there is no longer a trace of later alterations, at least in this aspect.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The fourth version of the painting was attacked on 14 October 2022 by environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign, who threw tomato soup at it, while it was on display at National Gallery in London, before gluing their hands to the wall.{{Cite news |date=13 October 2022 |title=UK: Climate protesters throw soup on van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' |work=The Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/london-painting-climate-and-environment-b15e0092560b290c04920620b2d7c061 |access-date=14 October 2022 |archive-date=14 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014120111/https://apnews.com/article/london-painting-climate-and-environment-b15e0092560b290c04920620b2d7c061 |url-status=live }} The painting was covered with plexiglass, and it was unharmed with the exception of minor damage to the frame. The two activists were arrested and the painting was put back on display later that day. The two activists were found guilty of criminal damage in July 2024,{{cite news |last1=Low |first1=Harry |title=JSO pair told to expect jail over soup on painting |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y99yrj49o |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=BBC News |date=25 July 2024}} and sentenced in September to 20 and 24 months in prison, respectively.{{cite news |last1=Croft |first1=Alex |title=Just Stop Oil protesters who threw soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting are jailed |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/just-stop-oil-protest-sunflowers-van-gogh-b2619997.html |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The Independent |date=27 September 2024}}

File:Vincent Van Gogh - Three Sunflowers F453.jpg|Sunflowers (F453), first version: turquoise background
Oil on canvas, 73.5 × 60 cm
Private collection

File:Six Sunflowers 1888.jpg|Sunflowers (F459), second version: royal-blue background
Oil on canvas, 98 × 69 cm
Formerly private collection, Ashiya, Japan, destroyed by US air raid of World War II on 6 August 1945{{cite web|url=http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0459.htm|title=Vincent van Gogh: The Paintings (Still Life: Vase with Five Sunflowers)|access-date=19 June 2006|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915161457/http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0459.htm|url-status=live}}

File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 128.jpg|Sunflowers (F456), third version: blue green background
Oil on canvas, 91 × 72 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 127.jpg|Sunflowers (F454), fourth version: yellow background
Oil on canvas, 92.1 × 73 cm
National Gallery, London, England

= The ''Repetitions'', January 1889 =

File:Van Gogh Twelve Sunflowers.jpg|Sunflowers (F455), repetition of the 3rd version
Oil on canvas, 92 × 72.5 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States.

File:Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers - VGM F458.jpg|Sunflowers (F458), repetition of the 4th version (yellow background)
Oil on canvas, 95 × 73 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

File:Van Gogh Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers.jpg|Sunflowers (F457), replica of the 4th version (yellow green background)
Oil on canvas, 100 × 76 cm
Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan.{{cite web|url=http://www.sompo-japan.co.jp/museum/english/|title=Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art|access-date=2009-03-28|archive-date=2012-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231151616/http://www.sompo-japan.co.jp/museum/english/|url-status=dead}}

Both repetitions of the 4th version are no longer in their original state. In the Amsterdam version, a strip of wood was added at the top—probably by van Gogh himself. The Tokyo version, however, was enlarged on all sides with strips of canvas, which were added at a later time—presumably by the first owner, Émile Schuffenecker.See Dorn 1999, pp. The series is perhaps van Gogh's best known and most widely reproduced. In the 2000s, debate arose regarding the authenticity of one of the paintings, and it has been suggested that this version may have been the work of Émile Schuffenecker or of Paul Gauguin.Johnston, Bruce."[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1357627/Van-Goghs-25m-Sunflowers-is-a-copy-by-Gauguin.html Van Gogh's £25m Sunflowers is 'a copy by Gauguin'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909005008/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1357627/Van-Goghs-25m-Sunflowers-is-a-copy-by-Gauguin.html |date=2017-09-09 }}". The Daily Telegraph, 26 September 2001. Retrieved on 3 October 2009. Most experts, however, conclude that the work is genuine."[http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=en&page=7985 Research confirms the authenticity of Yasuda Sunflowers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104094238/http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=en&page=7985 |date=2013-11-04 }}". Van Gogh Museum, 7 February 2002. Retrieved on 19 October 2012."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1896422.stm Van Gogh 'fake' declared genuine]". BBC, 27 March 2002. Retrieved on 3 October 2009

= The ''Berceuse''-Triptych =

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| caption1 = Sunflowers (London version)

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| caption2 = Berceuse (Otterlo version)

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File:Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers Berceuse triptych - letter.jpg

In January 1889, when Vincent had just finished the first repetitions of the Berceuse and the Sunflowers pendants, he told Theo: "I picture to myself these same canvases between those of the sunflowers, which would thus form torches or candelabra beside them, the same size, and so the whole would be composed of seven or nine canvases."{{cite web|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/574.htm|title=Letter 574 – Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 28 January 1889|access-date=14 June 2009|archive-date=11 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011023517/http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/574.htm|url-status=live}}

A definite hint for the arrangement of the triptych is supplied by van Gogh's sketch in a letter of July 1889.{{cite web|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/20/592.htm|title=Letter 592 – Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 22 May 1889|access-date=14 June 2009|archive-date=29 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829182644/http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/20/592.htm|url-status=live}}

Later that year, Vincent selected both versions for his display at Les XX, 1890.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The triptych was displayed as Vincent intended at the National Gallery in London in 2024, with the London and Philadelphia versions flanking the Boston Berceuse. The two Sunflowers paintings were again attacked by Just Stop Oil protestors.

Sunflowers, friendship and gratitude

File:Paul Gauguin - Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers - Google Art Project.jpg, 1888]]

Van Gogh began painting in late summer of 1888 and continued into the following year. One went to decorate his friend Paul Gauguin's bedroom. The paintings show sunflowers in all stages of life, from full bloom to withering. The paintings were considered innovative for their use of the yellow spectrum, partly because newly invented pigments made new colors possible.

In a letter to Theo,Letter [http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/573.htm 573] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011032000/http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/19/573.htm |date=2008-10-11 }} Vincent wrote:

"It's a type of painting that changes its aspect a little, which grows in richness the more you look at it. Besides, you know that Gauguin likes them extraordinarily. He said to me about them, among other things:

‘that — ... that's... the flower’. You know that Jeannin has the peony, Quost has the hollyhock, but I have the sunflower, in a way."[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let741/letter.html Letter 741] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160929191505/http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let741/letter.html |date=2016-09-29 }} To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 22 January 1889.

Subsequent history

File:Isaac Israels - Woman before %27%27Sunflowers%27%27 by van Gogh%2C 1917.JPG: Woman in front of van Gogh's Sunflowers, 1917. A close friend of Vincent Willem van Gogh, the artist's nephew, Israëls had a version of the Sunflowers on loan for a while.]]

File:Schiele - Welke Sonnenblume.jpg.]]

On March 30, 1987, Japanese insurance magnate Yasuo Goto paid the equivalent of US$39,921,750 for van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers at auction at Christie's London, at the time a record-setting amount for a work of art.{{cite news |last=Clines |first=Francis X. |title= Van Gogh Sets Auction Record: $39.9 million |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1987-03-31 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB1F3DF932A05750C0A961948260 |access-date=2008-06-13}} The price was over three times the previous record of about $12{{nbsp}}million paid for Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi in 1985. The record was broken a few months later with the purchase of another van Gogh, Irises, by Alan Bond for $53.9{{nbsp}}million at Sotheby's, New York on November 11, 1987.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

While it is uncertain whether Yasuo Goto bought the painting himself or on behalf of his company, the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Japan, the painting currently resides at Seiji Togo Yasuda Memorial Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. After the purchase, a controversy arose whether this is a genuine van Gogh or an Émile Schuffenecker forgery.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

= Provenances =

Two Paris versions van Gogh exchanged with Gauguin in December 1887 or January 1888, were both sold to Ambroise Vollard: one in January 1895 and the other in April 1896. The first canvas resided for a short time with Félix Roux, but was reacquired by Vollard and sold to Degas, then from his estate to Rosenberg, then to Hahnloser and bequested to the Kunstmuseum Bern. The second was acquired by the Dutch collector Hoogendijk at the sale of his collection by Kann, who ceded the painting to Richard Bühler and then via Thannhauser to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Two of van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings never left the artist's estate: the study for one of the Paris versions (F377) and the repetition of fourth version (F458). Both are in the possession of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, established 1962 by Vincent Willem van Gogh, the artist's nephew, and on permanent loan to the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Five other versions are recorded in the van Gogh estate papers:Dorn 1999 and Stolwijk & Veenenbos 2002

the final Paris version (F.452) in the artist's estate was sold 1909 via C. M. van Gogh, The Hague (J. H. de Bois) to Kröller-Müller
(F457) sold 1894 to Émile Schuffenecker. (Tokyo version).
(F456) sold 1905 via Paul Cassirer to Hugo von Tschudi. (Munich version).
(F459) sold 1908 C. M. van Gogh (J. H. de Bois), The Hague to Fritz Meyer-Fierz, Zürich (destroyed by U.S. air raid in Japan on 6 August 1945).
(F454) sold 1924 via Ernest Brown & Phillips (The Leicester Galleries) to the Tate Gallery; since on permanent loan to the National Gallery, London. (London version).

Two Arles versions left the artist's estate unrecorded:

(F453) (private collection). Sold 1891 to Octave Mirbeau, Paris, (via Tanguy, Paris) for £12 (about £1,300 in 2013 £). Sold 1996 to a private collector for an undisclosed sum.Bailey, 2013, p. 202
(F455) (Philadelphia version).

References

= Sources =

Bailey, Martin: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece, Frances Lincoln Limited (2013), {{ISBN|978-0-7112-3298-3}}
Dorn, Roland: "Décoration": Vincent van Gogh's Werkreihe für das Gelbe Haus in Arles, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zürich & New York, 1990, pp. 58–61, 73–80, 113–117, 335–348, 455–462 {{ISBN|3-487-09098-8}}
Hoffmann, Konrad: Zu van Goghs Sonnenblumenbildern, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 31, 1968, pp. 27–58
{{cite book|title=Van Gogh Repetitions|date=2013|publisher=The Phillips Collection|isbn=978-0-300-19082-3|editor=Eliza Rathbone|display-editors=etal}}
Stolwijk, Chris, & Veenenbos, Han: The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam & Primavera Press, Leiden 2002 {{ISBN|90-74310-82-6}}
Tellegen, Annet: Vincent en Gauguin: schilderijenruil in Paris, Museumjournaal 11, 1966, pp. 42–45
Van Tilborgh, Louis & Hendriks, Ella: The Tokyo 'Sunflowers': a genuine repetition by Van Gogh or a Schuffenecker forgery?, Van Gogh Museum Journal 2001, pp. 17–43
Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila: The Ownership of Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers', The Burlington Magazine, March 1998, pp. 184–192

External links

[http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/vangogh/sunflowers-24 Sunflowers] on Google Art Project
[http://www.vggallery.com/misc/sunflowers.htm Sunflowers at vggallery.com], the complete series of paintings.
[http://vangoghgallery.com/painting/sunflowerindex.html Sunflowers, vangoghgallery.com], offers an analysis of two sunflower paintings.
[http://www.bavarikon.de/object/bav:BSG-OBJ-0000000000000219/ The Munich version of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers at Neue Pinakothek] on [http://www.bavarikon.de/ bavarikon]
[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/167899 Van Gogh, paintings and drawings: a special loan exhibition], a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on these paintings (see index)
[http://www.check123.com/videos/65-sunflowers-van-gogh Sunflowers (Van Gogh)] - Video - Check123 Video Encyclopedia