Sunflowers, 1887
Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh painted four still lifes of sunflowers in Paris in late summer 1887.
There is a small oil sketch for this canvas (Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam) as well as another painting of two sunflowers also signed and dated 1887 (Kunstmuseum Bern),
and a larger canvas showing four sunflower heads.
In these works, Van Gogh followed traditional academic practice: he proceeded from a quick oil sketch, to a more considered painted study and, finally, to a large picture.
The artist''''''''s fascination with the subject culminated in 1888 with the series of sunflowers that he painted to decorate his studio in Arles.