Bowl with Sunflowers, Roses and Other Flowers

Painted in Paris in 1886, this bowl arrangement of sunflowers, roses, and smaller flowers is one of Van Gogh's most varied floral still lifes of the period, combining the bold, solar form of the sunflower — which would become his personal emblem — with the more traditionally beautiful rose. His Paris flower series marks the decisive break with his Dutch period and announces the color-saturated work to come. Sunflowers held particular meaning for Van Gogh as symbols of gratitude, warmth, and light, and their appearance here, mixed with other blooms, prefigures their apotheosis in the Arles sunflower paintings.

The loose, rounded bowl sits against a plain surface, with flowers spilling beyond its rim in a deliberately casual arrangement. Brushwork varies dramatically across the canvas — dense impasto for the sunflower centers, lighter strokes for smaller blooms. The palette is warm and rich, with yellows and oranges dominating against greens.