the laughable pot of sunflowers

[ana_pirogova]

At first nobody wanted them. Van Gogh painted four images of sunflowers in a pot, and then three copies that depart in many details from the originals.
Having been invited to show work alongside Les Vingt, an avant-garde group of 20 artists in Brussels, in January 1890, Van Gogh consulted his brother Theo as to what he should send. Theo recommended the sunflowers and explained why. "I've put one of the sunflowers on the mantelpiece in our dining room. It has the effect of a piece of fabric embroidered with satin and gold, it's magnificent." But such richness and beauty, achieved by means of Van Gogh's stark simplicity and strong colour, was not apparent to others. The artist Henry de Groux threatened to remove his own work from the 1890 exhibition if he found it in the same room as "the laughable pot of sunflowers by Mr Vincent".

In Vincent's mind, nature and art were companions. "Always continue walking a lot and loving nature," he told Theo, "for that's the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see."

But it was in Arles that the great sunflower period began. And it coincided with his move into a small yellow house on the edge of the square. He got the landlord to repaint it so that the outside walls became the colour of fresh butter and its shutters a rather hideous green. Inside, the red-brick floors were offset by white-washed walls. It was five months before he could move in, but it inspired his great plan. He told Emile Bernard: "I'm thinking of decorating my studio with half a dozen paintings of sunflowers."

What pushed him into action was the imminent arrival of Paul Gauguin. Wanting to impress his friend with new work, he started painting on 20 August 1888. He sustained himself with coffee and alcohol, and within six days had more or less completed four pieces. One of these was destroyed in the second world war and another, in a private collection, is not well known to the wider public. The other two are those that will hang together for a while in London, and they are among the most famous paintings in the world.