Name: VAN GOGH SUNFLOWERS ~ Artist Pop Up Card
SKU: 18033
Availability: InStock

VAN GOGH SUNFLOWERS ~ Artist Pop Up Card

$15.00

Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers are dazzlingly famous and phenomenally popular. Last year, more postcards of this painting were sold in London’s National Gallery than of any other picture in the entire collection. (Over 26,110 copies!)

Fifteen yellow sunflowers erupt out of a simple earthenware pot. Some of the flowers are fresh and perky, ringed with halos of flickering, flame-like petals. Others are going to seed and have begun to droop.

In part a meditation on the vagaries of time, the picture gives a dynamic, colorful twist to the long tradition of Dutch flower painting stretching back to the 17th Century. Let’s Gogh!

Description

Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in late August: “I’m painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won’t surprise you when it’s a question of painting large Sunflowers.”

Sunflower quotes:

“The sunflower is mine, in a way.” ~ Van Gogh
“The road to freedom is bordered with sunflowers.” – Martin Firrell
“Sunflowers are like people to me.” – Joan Mitchell
“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wildflowers in our hair.” – Susan Polis Schutz
“Tomorrow it may rain, so I’ll follow the sun.” – The Beatles
“A sunflower teaches us so much about love.” – Samrah Ahmad
“Her smile put the sunflower to shame.” – Jerry Spinelli
“Wake me up before you Gogh Gogh.” – Wham
“She is a sunflower! She brings hope to people.” – Avijeet Das
“Look at the sunny side of everything.”– Christian D. Larsen
“Eyes were the color of gold, of sunflowers and butterscotch and lemons hanging heavy on their boughs.” – Jest Marissa Meyer

History of Vincent van Gogh sunflowers:

Van Gogh painted sunflowers for the first time in the summer of 1886. Two years later, he settled at Arles, just north of Marseille in Provence. He invited the French artist Paul Gauguin, whom he admired, to join his Studio of the South. To prepare for Gauguin’s arrival, Van Gogh began painting sunflowers to brighten up the whitewashed interiors of the yellow house he was renting, not far from the town’s railway station and brothels. The speed of this work was driven by enthusiasm and necessity since the flowers were destined to wilt and fade.

Vincent van Gogh linked his yellow sunflowers to the sun itself, which warms the earth and nurtures the tiny sunflower seeds, transforming them in just a few months into one of nature’s tallest flowers.

The shapes, colors, and cheerfulness of the modest flowers appealed to him. He associated their yellow color with sunshine, the south, and Christ, the light of the world.

Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine.

Today many people immediately associate sunflowers with Van Gogh. Now these optimistic blooms will also be a reminder for us of Ukraine and its people. In the mornings these tall flowers turn towards the east, where the sun rises, towards their neighbour, Russia.

Displaying sunflowers has become one of the many ways the world is showing solidarity for the Ukrainian people.
See also: PRAY FOR UKRAINE ~ World Peace pop up card.

Our Ukraine Sunflower pop up card is free on request with any order.