I girasoli

In August 1888 van Gogh was in Arles, waiting for the painter Gauguin to come and share his little Yellow House, and he wanted the guest room to blaze. So he set to painting sunflowers in a hurry, while the flowers were still fresh, hoping to hang a whole row of them. This is one of that batch, over a dozen blooms crammed into a plain earthenware pot, some in full flower, some already gone to seed, the whole thing yellow on yellow. He was proud of pulling off a picture that was almost a single colour and still held together. He signed it simply Vincent, on the vase, the way he marked the few paintings he was happiest with.