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"You may know that the peony is Jeannin's, the hollyhock belongs to Quost, but the sunflower is mine in a way." Vincent van Gogh (to Theo) Letter 573 22 or 23 January 1889

Dr. Jan Hulsker, one of the world's foremost scholars of Vincent van Gogh, suggests that the sunflower series "perhaps more than any other of his paintings, have made him known throughout the world. They are often the only works with which he is identified."

Below is a complete listing of the sunflower works. When most people think of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, they generally think of the works produced in Arles, France during 1888-89. However, I'm also including the four earlier sunflower paintings from Vincent's Paris period. While these four works are starkly different than the Arles sunflower series, they nevertheless reflect an outstanding achievement in Vincent's evolution as a painter.

In recent years a great deal of attention has been devoted to the authenticity of some of the sunflower paintings (namely, the Yasuda version) Most experts, however, have come to the conclusion that the Yasuda work is genuine. Unfortunately the arguments about authenticity have detracted from more critical and analytical studies of the works themselves--involved critical commentary of the sunflower series is surprisingly difficult to find.

In the weeks and months to come I hope to provide more commentary and analysis of these famous paintings. Jan Hulsker's observation of the sunflower series truly mirrors Vincent's own--they would indeed prove to be the works that Vincent is best beloved for.

The Paris sunflowers

Painting Name	Date	Current Location	F	JH	Thumbnail
Four Cut Sunflowers	August-September, 1887	Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum	452	1330
Two Cut Sunflowers	August-September, 1887	Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum	377	1328
Two Cut Sunflowers	August-September, 1887	Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern	376	1331
Two Cut Sunflowers	August-September, 1887	New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art	375	1329

The Arles sunflowers

Painting Name	Date	Current Location	F	JH	Thumbnail
Still Life: Vase with Five Sunflowers	August, 1888	Destroyed by fire in the Second World War (formerly in Yokohama)	459	1560
Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers	January, 1889	Tokyo, Sompo Japan Museum of Art	457	1666
Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers	August, 1888	London, National Gallery	454	1562
Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers	January, 1889	Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum	458	1667
Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers	August, 1888	Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek	456	1561
Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers	January, 1889	Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art	455	1668
Three Sunflowers in a Vase	August, 1888	United States, private collection	453	1559

Recommended reading

• Martin Bailey, The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece, (Lincoln, 2013)
• Roland Dorn, "Van Gogh's Sunflowers series: the fifth toile de 30", Van Gogh Museum Journal (1999), pp. 42-61.
• David Douglas Duncan, Sunflowers for Van Gogh, (Rizzoli, New York, 1986).
• Jan Hulsker, "The Sunflowers", The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, (J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1996), pp. 352-54.
• Louis van Tilborgh and Ella Hendriks, "The Tokyo Sunflowers: a genuine repetition by Van Gogh or a Schuffenecker forgery?", Van Gogh Museum Journal (2001).

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