Van Gogh created many pictures with a picture of sunflowers. For the first time these flowers appear on his canvases in 1887. Then, living in Paris, he created a series of still lifes with lying sunflowers. Then, already in Arles, Van Gogh wrote several works with a picture of sunflowers in a vase. His infinite admiration for the yellow color, personifying the sun and life, in these still lifes, Van Gogh brought to a climax: yellow not only flowers were written, but also vases, table surfaces, and backgrounds of paintings.
This work – one of the first “Sunflowers” of the Arles period. The painting does not yet have the yellow supremacy inherent in later works, nor is there a flatness that brings the painting of Van Gogh to Japanese art.
Three sunflowers are depicted on a turquoise background. Orange petals play in their petals, reminding that recently the flowers grew in the hot sun. But the rotten leaves of sunflowers, losing shape, already indicate the process of withering that began in them.
The picture is very animated by a light green vase, on the surface of which glare plays. The surface of the table is painted with pasty smears of brown paint, through which orange reflexes of light break through. The picture looks cheerful and light, it reflects the feelings of the author, endlessly inspired by the sunny colors of nature.
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