Sunflowers ( van Gogh series ) - wikipedia Sunflowers ( van Gogh series ) Sunflowers Fourth version, exhibited at the National Gallery, London Artist Vincent van Gogh Year 1880s Location Van Gogh Museum ( edit on Wikidata ) Sunflowers ( original title, in French : Tournesols ) is the name 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, executed 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 to 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. After Gauguin 's departure, van Gogh imagined the two major versions as wings of the Berceuse Triptych, and finally he included them in his Les XX in Bruxelles exhibit. Contents 1 The Paris Sunflowers 2 The Arles Sunflowers 2.1 The initial versions, August 1888 2.2 The Repetitions, January 1889 2.3 The Berceuse - Triptych 3 Sunflowers, friendship and gratitude 4 Subsequent history 4.1 Provenances 5 Notes 5.1 References 6 External links The Paris Sunflowers See also : Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh ( Paris ) 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 me from Brittany, at the same time giving me back both my portrait 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. '' Sunflowers, study ( F377 ), Oil on canvas, 21 x 27 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Sunflowers ( F375 ), Oil on canvas, 43.2 x 61 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Sunflowers ( F376 ), Oil on canvas, 50 x 60.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Bern Sunflowers ( F452 ), Oil on canvas, 60 × 100 cm, Kröller - Müller Museum, Otterlo F. Numbers refer to De la Faille Catalogue raisonné 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. Roses and Sunflowers, 1886 Oil on canvas, 50 × 61 cm Kunsthalle Mannheim The Arles Sunflowers In a letter to Theo, dating from 21 or 22 August 1888, Vincent wrote : `` I 'm painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which wo n't surprise you when it 's a question of painting large sunflowers. '' At this time he had three paintings on the go, 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 ''. Leaving aside the first two versions, all Arlesian Sunflowers are painted on size 30 canvases. The initial versions, August 1888 None meets the descriptions supplied by van Gogh himself in his announcement of the series in every detail. The first version differs in size, is painted on a size 20 canvas -- not on a size 15 canvas as indicated -- 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. Neither the third nor the fourth shows the dozen or 14 flowers indicated by the artist, but more -- fifteen or sixteen. 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. Sunflowers ( F453 ), first version : turquoise background Oil on canvas, 73.5 × 60 cm Private collection Sunflowers ( F459 ), second version : royal - blue background Oil on canvas, 98 × 69 cm Formerly private collection, Japan, destroyed by fire in World War II on 6 August 1945 Sunflowers ( F456 ), third version : blue green background Oil on canvas, 91 × 72 cm Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany Sunflowers ( F454 ), fourth version : yellow background Oil on canvas, 92.1 × 73 cm National Gallery, London, England The repetitions, January 1889 Sunflowers ( F455 ), repetition of the 3rd version Oil on canvas, 92 × 72.5 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States. Sunflowers ( F458 ), repetition of the 4th version ( yellow background ) Oil on canvas, 95 × 73 cm Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sunflowers ( F457 ), replica of the 4th version ( yellow green background ) Oil on canvas, 100 × 76 cm Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan. 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. 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. Most experts, however, conclude that the work is genuine. The Berceuse - triptych Sunflowers ( London version ) Berceuse ( Otterlo version ) Sunflowers ( Munich version ) For complete data see previous illustrations Sketch of the triptych in a letter to Theo 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. '' A definite hint for the arrangement of the triptych is supplied by Van Gogh 's sketch in a letter of July 1889. Later that year, Vincent selected both versions for his display at Les XX, 1890. Sunflowers, friendship and gratitude Paul Gauguin : The Painter of Sunflowers, 1888 Van Gogh began painting in late summer 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 colours possible. In a letter to Theo, 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. '' Subsequent history Isaac Israëls : 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. Dried Sunflowers by Egon Schiele. On March 30, 1987, even those without interest in art were made aware of van Gogh 's Sunflowers series when 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. The price was over four times the previous record of about $12 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 million at Sotheby 's, New York on November 11, 1987. 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. 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 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. 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. Five other versions are recorded in the Van Gogh estate papers : 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 Japan 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. ( F455 ) ( Philadelphia version ). Notes Jump up ^ Wildenstein Jump up ^ Selfportrait à l'ami Gauguin Jump up ^ `` Letter 571 - Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 17 January 1889 ''. Jump up ^ Letter 666 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 21 or Wednesday, 22 August 1888. Jump up ^ Dorn 1990, pp. 336 -- 337 Jump up ^ Dorn 1990, pp. 344 -- 348 Jump up ^ Dorn 1990, pp. 337 -- 340 ; 340 -- 343 and Van Tilborgh & Hendricks, pp. Jump up ^ `` Vincent van Gogh : The Paintings ( Still Life : Vase with Five Sunflowers ) ''. Jump up ^ `` Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art ''. Jump up ^ See Dorn 1999, pp. Jump up ^ Johnston, Bruce. `` Van Gogh 's £ 25m Sunflowers is ' a copy by Gauguin ' ''. The Daily Telegraph, 26 September 2001. Retrieved on 3 October 2009. Jump up ^ `` Research confirms authenticity of Yasuda Sunflowers ''. Van Gogh Museum, 7 February 2002. Retrieved on 19 October 2012. Jump up ^ `` Van Gogh ' fake ' declared genuine ''. BBC, 27 March 2002. Retrieved on 3 October 2009 Jump up ^ `` Letter 574 -- Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 28 January 1889 ''. Jump up ^ `` Letter 592 -- Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh : 22 May 1889 ''. Jump up ^ Letter 573 Jump up ^ Letter 741 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 22 January 1889. Jump up ^ Clines, Francis X. ( 1987 - 03 - 31 ). `` Van Gogh Sets Auction Record : $39.9 million ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 13. Jump up ^ Dorn 1999 and Stolwijk & Veenenbos 2002 Jump up ^ Bailey, 2013, p. 202 References 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 Goghs 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 Eliza Rathbone ; et al., eds. ( 2013 ). Van Gogh Repetitions. The Phillips Collection. ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 19082 - 3. 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 ', Burlington Magazine, March 1998, pp. 184 -- 192 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sunflowers ( van Gogh ). Sunflowers on Google Art Project Sunflowers at vggallery.com, the complete series of paintings. Sunflowers, vangoghgallery.com, offers an analysis of two sunflower paintings. The Munich version of Vincent van Gogh 's Sunflowers at Neue Pinakothek on bavarikon 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 ) Vincent van Gogh General Biography Chronology Health Death Posthumous fame Cultural depictions List of works Post-Impressionism Auberge Ravoux Café du Tambourin The Letters of Vincent van Gogh Family Theo van Gogh Wil van Gogh Johanna van Gogh - Bonger Andries Bonger Theo van Gogh ( film director ) Anton Mauve Johannes Stricker Friends Émile Bernard Eugène Boch Anna Boch Fernand Cormon Paul Gachet Paul Gauguin John Peter Russell Agostina Segatori Anthon van Rappard Groups of works Self portraits Portraits Early works Lost early works Sien Peasant Character Studies Cottages Van Gogh 's family in his art Montmartre Outskirts of Paris Still life paintings, Paris Le Moulin de la Galette Asnières Seine Wheat Fields Flowering Orchards Almond Blossoms Langlois Bridge at Arles Saintes - Maries Paintings of Children Décoration for the Yellow House The Roulin Family Hospital in Arles Butterflies Saint - Paul Asylum, Saint - Rémy The Enclosed Wheat Field at Saint - Rémy Trees and Undergrowth Copies by Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees Display at Les XX, 1890 Auvers size 30 canvases Auvers Double - squares and Squares Japonaiserie Sunflowers Still life paintings, Netherlands Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg Houses at Auvers Paintings Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather The ' Laakmolen ' near The Hague Girl in White in the Woods Lying Cow A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background Cows in the Meadow Farmhouses Among Trees Bulb Fields Drawbridge in Nieuw - Amsterdam Landscape with Wheelbarrow Landscape with a Church at Twilight Landscape with Dunes Footbridge across a Ditch Marshy Landscape A Wind - Beaten Tree Farm with Stacks of Peat Farmhouses in Loosduinen near The Hague at Twilight Three Figures near a Canal with Windmill Two Rats Old Church Tower at Nuenen Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Avenue of Poplars at Sunset Still Life with Straw Hat The Potato Eaters Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette Vase with Red Poppies Poppy Flowers Wheat Field with a Lark View of Paris from Vincent 's Room in the Rue Lepic Portrait of Père Tanguy A Woman Walking in a Garden Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Landscape with Snow La Mousmé The Zouave The Night Café The Yellow House Van Gogh 's Chair Café Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhône Portrait of the Artist 's Mother Bedroom in Arles A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles Falling Autumn Leaves L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Memory of the Garden at Etten ( Ladies of Arles ) Les Arènes Interior of a Restaurant in Arles A Lane near Arles View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Arles : View from the Wheat Fields Sunset at Montmajour Crab on its Back Two Crabs La Berceuse Irises The Starry Night Self - portrait ( 1889 ) Self - portrait without beard Self - Portrait with Bandaged Ear A Meadow in the Mountains : Le Mas de Saint - Paul Enclosed Field with Peasant Wheat Field with Cypresses Green Wheat Field with Cypress Ivy Farmhouse in Provence Road with Cypress and Star At Eternity 's Gate Thatched Cottages and Houses Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet 's Garden in Auvers Houses at Auvers White House at Night Landscape with a Carriage and a Train Girl in White The Church at Auvers Daubigny 's Garden Farms near Auvers The Town Hall at Auvers Blossoming Chestnut Branches Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint - Rémy Still Life : Vase with Pink Roses Wheatfield with Crows Tree Roots Other works Drawings, water - colours and prints 87 Hackford Road Marsh with Water Lilies Church Pew with Worshippers Portrait of a Man in a Top Hat Sorrow Woman on Her Deathbed Torso of Venus and a Landscape Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman Public collections Van Gogh Museum Kröller - Müller Museum Musée d'Orsay National Gallery ( London ) Portrayals The Painter of Sunflowers ( 1888 painting ) Lust for Life ( 1934 novel 1956 film ) Van Gogh ( 1948 film ) Van Gogh ( 1956 opera ) `` Vincent '' ( 1971 song ) Vincent ( 1987 film ) Vincent & Theo ( 1990 film ) Vincent ( 1990 opera ) Van Gogh ( 1991 film ) Vincent in Brixton ( 2003 play ) `` Vincent and the Doctor '' ( 2010 TV episode ) Loving Vincent ( 2017 film ) Cataloguers Jacob Baart de la Faille ( 1928 and 1970 ; `` F '' ) Jan Hulsker ( 1978, revised 1989 ; `` JH '' ) Related Maison Van Gogh GND : 7643174 - 5 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunflowers_(Van_Gogh_series)&oldid=833863513 '' Categories : 1887 paintings 1888 paintings 1889 paintings Collections of the National Gallery, London Paintings by Vincent van Gogh Series of Vincent van Gogh paintings Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh Collections of the Van Gogh Museum Vincent van Gogh paintings of Arles Flower paintings Hidden categories : Articles using Infobox artwork / wikidata using locally defined parameters Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Беларуская Català Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Suomi Türkçe Українська 中文 27 more Edit links This page was last edited on 2 April 2018, at 19 : 36. 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Question: how many paintings of sunflowers did van gogh paint
Answer: two