Description
Two Cut Sunflowers belongs to the small series of sunflowers Vincent van Gogh painted in Paris in late summer 1887, during the two years he lived with his brother Theo in Montmartre. Rather than arranging the flowers in a vase, as he would later do in Arles, the artist cut them and observed them at very close range, lying on a surface, turning a simple motif into an intense study of form, texture and color.
The close viewpoint keeps references to the surroundings to a minimum: the sunflowers fill the space as if they were portraits. Van Gogh dwells on the seed-filled central disc, the curling petals and the cut stems, using thick, visible brushstrokes that give the surface real relief. The flower no longer appears at its peak, but in the midst of transformation, which lends the work an almost meditative quality.
These canvases come from the Paris period, when Van Gogh brightened his palette under the influence of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism and began exploring the contrast between complementary colors. Paul Gauguin was so taken with the series that he acquired two of these paintings in exchange for one of his own works. The following year, Van Gogh returned to the motif in Arles with his celebrated sunflowers in a vase, intended to decorate the room he was preparing for Gauguin in the Yellow House.
Our reproduction of Two Cut Sunflowers is hand-painted in oil by professional artists, who preserve the texture of the brushwork and the color intensity of the original. Discover more Van Gogh paintings in our collection.
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