This weeks painting of the week is: Vase with fifteen sunflowers!
Van Gogh had an obsession with sunflowers. He painted several paintings of sunflowers in all stages of life: from fully in bloom to withering. In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote: "The sunflower is mine in a way". Apart from the fact that Vincent loved sunflowers, they are an easy model to paint: they never complain, always stand still and are craving for attention.
Okay, so sunflowers are an easy model. Anyone can take a nice picture of a sunflower! But who can take a real good one? Today we have launched our first photo contest. And for this photo contest, we ask you to enter a photo of a sunflower.
We are eager to find out if sunflowers inspire you as much as they did Vincent....! Who can surprise us? Curious? Have some ideas already? Read more about the Tracing Vincent photo contest and the prices you can win!
Van Gogh and his Sunflowers
Vincent painted not just sunflowers as a still-life. He experimented with various objects like shoes, vases, fruit and daily objects he found around the house. Although it wasn’t his favourite subject to paint, he did make still-lifes in order to develop his painting skills. Among Vincent’s Sunflower paintings are three similar paintings with fifteen sunflowers in a vase, and two similar paintings with twelve sunflowers in a vase.
Van Gogh painted a Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, and a Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers in August 1888 when he was living in Arles. He painted these first versions to decorate his friend Paul Gauguin’s bedroom in The Yellow House. This was a very friendly gesture, which was very much appreciated by Gauguin at the time. Gauguin painted Van Gogh's portrait while he was painting a stil-life with sunflowers. Vincent's friends called his sunflower paintings typical Van Gogh paintings.
One of Vincent's sunflower paitings, which he painted in august 1888 in Arles, was destroyed in August 1945 by a fire in World War II.
What do you think of this painting? Does it cheer you up? Do you like sunflowers? Add your comment and click here to rate the painting and read more.
