Sunflowers (Munich version)

This version of the Sunflowers series, now at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, was painted in August 1888 when Van Gogh was preparing his 'Yellow House' in Arles for the arrival of Gauguin. He conceived the sunflower paintings as decoration for Gauguin's room, believing they expressed something of the gratitude and warmth he felt. The Munich version shows seven or possibly more sunflowers in various stages of bloom and decay, filling the vase with characteristic asymmetrical energy. Van Gogh saw sunflowers as his signature motif — the flower that captured both his palette (yellow dominates) and his belief in natural things as vehicles of profound feeling.

The impasto is extraordinary — thick ridges of yellow and orange paint building physical presence on the canvas. Van Gogh works through the full chromatic range of yellow from lemon through ochre to near-brown, unifying the composition through hue family rather than tonal contrast. Each flower is individually characterized through the direction and pressure of the strokes.