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Which Sunflowers? Distinguishing Paintings and Versions

Published · Art & See editorial desk

Sunflowers is not the title of just one Van Gogh painting. The safest identification combines the collection, object number, date, dimensions and composition. This guide compares three documented objects rather than treating every sunflower in his work as one series. [1][2][3]

Paris: the Met’s horizontal still life

The Metropolitan Museum of Art records Sunflowers, 1887, as object 49.41: oil on canvas, 43.2 by 61 centimetres. Its description places the work among sunflower still lifes painted in Paris in late summer 1887. This is the horizontal picture of cut flower heads, rather than the later upright vase arrangement familiar from London. [1]

Two cut sunflower heads lying on their sides against a brushy blue ground, one still golden and one bleached to pale cream; the canvas is wider than it is tall and signed Vincent 87 at lower left.
Sunflowers, Paris, 1887 — the horizontal canvas of cut flower heads, not the upright vase familiar from London. [1]The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — 49.41, Rogers Fund, 1949 (CC0)

Arles: the National Gallery’s vase

The National Gallery’s Sunflowers is dated 1888, inventory NG3863, and measures 92.1 by 73 centimetres. The museum relates the Arles sunflower pictures to Van Gogh’s plans for his house and Gauguin’s visit. The upright vase, yellow background and arrangement distinguish this object from the Met’s earlier canvas. [2]

The Gallery distinguishes seven versions made in 1888–89 from the smaller group held in public museums; it notes one in a private collection and one destroyed during the Second World War. That count has a defined scope. It should not be applied to every earlier still life, garden or portrait that contains a sunflower. [2]

An upright earthenware pot crowded with sunflowers in every stage, some full and golden, some gone to seed, against a pale yellow wall above a deeper yellow table; the pot is signed Vincent in blue.
Sunflowers, Arles, 1888 — the upright vase, the yellow background and the arrangement are what separate this canvas from the Met's. [2]The National Gallery, London — NG3863 (public domain)

Philadelphia: a later repetition

The Philadelphia Museum of Art dates its Sunflowers to 1889 and records it as 1963-116-19. The canvas measures 92.4 by 71.1 centimetres. The museum describes it as a winter painting made from memory and relates it to the earlier vase composition with a turquoise background now in Munich. This makes it a distinct later work, not a second name for London’s canvas. [3][4]

The same subject of an upright vase of sunflowers, but set against a turquoise wall, the vase yellow above and mauve below, one flower showing a red centre and the signature written in red on the pot.
Sunflowers, 1889 — the later repetition, which the museum describes as a winter painting made from memory. [3]Philadelphia Museum of Art — 1963-116-19, The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection (public domain)

A portrait by Gauguin is a different kind of object

The Van Gogh Museum’s scholarly catalogue attributes Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers to Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh is the person represented, not the author. A title containing both “Van Gogh” and “Sunflowers” therefore cannot establish authorship or membership in the still-life group. [5]

A man in a brown coat sits at the right and leans left, brush touching a canvas on an easel; a bowl of sunflowers stands on the table in front of him, and the signature P Gauguin 88 is at lower right.
Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers is by Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh is the person represented here, not the author. [5]Paul Gauguin — Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, s0225V1962 (public domain)

How to keep versions apart

Compare orientation and arrangement first, then verify the institution’s identifier. Keep a repetition distinct from the earlier composition on which it is based. If a source supplies an F or JH catalogue number, copy it only after confirming that it belongs to the same object.

For a letter connection, follow the scholarly annotation to the identified work instead of attaching any reference to sunflowers to every version. An uncertain image match should remain uncertain. The comparisons here cover New York, London and Philadelphia; they are not an exhaustive catalogue of every surviving or lost sunflower painting.

The three documented objects, side by side
VersionDateCollectionObject numberCanvas
Sunflowers, cut heads seen horizontally1887, painted in ParisThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York49.4143.2 × 61 cm [1]
Sunflowers, upright vase on a yellow ground1888, painted in ArlesThe National Gallery, LondonNG386392.1 × 73 cm [2]
Sunflowers, a later repetition1889Philadelphia Museum of Art1963-116-1992.4 × 71.1 cm [3]

Dates, object numbers and dimensions as each museum records them. Gauguin's Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers is a portrait of Van Gogh and is not a version, so it is left out. Nor are these three the whole group: the National Gallery distinguishes seven versions made in 1888–89. [1][2][3][5]

Sources

  1. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sunflowers, 1887, 49.41Accessed .
  2. National Gallery: Sunflowers, 1888, NG3863Accessed .
  3. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Sunflowers, 1889, 1963-116-19Accessed .
  4. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, institutional object detailsAccessed .
  5. Van Gogh Museum scholarly catalogue: Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh Painting SunflowersAccessed .
Which Sunflowers? Distinguishing Paintings and Versions — Vincent van Gogh Paintings