Editing Vincent van Gogh (section)

====Flowers====
{{See also|Sunflowers (Van Gogh series)|Almond Blossoms}}
[[File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 127.jpg|thumb|upright|''Still Life: Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers'', August 1888. [[National Gallery]], London|alt=A ceramic vase with sunflowers on a yellow surface against a bright yellow background.]]

Van Gogh painted several landscapes with flowers, including roses, [[lilac]]s, [[iris (plant)|irises]], and [[sunflower]]s. Some reflect his interests in the language of colour, and also in Japanese [[ukiyo-e]].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 80–81, 184–187}} There are two series of dying sunflowers. The first was painted in Paris in 1887 and shows flowers lying on the ground. The second set was completed a year later in Arles and is of bouquets in a vase positioned in early morning light.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 413}} Both are built from [[impasto|thickly layered paintwork]], which, according to the London National Gallery, evokes the "texture of the seed-heads".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers|title=Vincent van Gogh; Sunflowers; NG3863|publisher=National Gallery, London|access-date=1 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812154012/http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers|archive-date=12 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

In these series, Van Gogh was not preoccupied by his usual interest in filling his paintings with subjectivity and emotion; rather, the two series are intended to display his technical skill and working methods to Gauguin,{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 411}} who was about to visit. The 1888 paintings were created during a rare period of optimism for the artist. Vincent wrote to Theo in August 1888:
{{quote|I'm painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won't surprise you when it's a question of painting large sunflowers&nbsp;... If I carry out this plan there'll be a dozen or so panels. The whole thing will therefore be a symphony in blue and yellow. I work on it all these mornings, from sunrise. Because the flowers wilt quickly and it's a matter of doing the whole thing in one go.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let666/letter.html Letter 666]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 21 or Wednesday, 22 August 1888.}}}}

The sunflowers were painted to decorate the walls in anticipation of Gauguin's visit, and Van Gogh placed individual works around the ''[[Décoration for the Yellow House|Yellow House's guest room]]'' in Arles. Gauguin was deeply impressed and later acquired two of the Paris versions.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 411}} After Gauguin's departure, Van Gogh imagined the two major versions of the sunflowers as wings of the ''Berceuse Triptych'', and included them in his [[Vincent van Gogh's display at Les XX, 1890|''Les XX'' in Brussels exhibit]]. Today the major pieces of the series are among his best known, celebrated for the sickly connotations of the colour yellow and its tie-in with the Yellow House, the expressionism of the brush strokes, and their contrast against often dark backgrounds.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 417}}

<gallery widths="165" heights="165" class="center">
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 128.jpg|alt=A ceramic vase with sunflowers on a yellow surface against a pale blue background.|''[[Sunflowers (painting)|Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers]]'', August 1888. [[Neue Pinakothek]], Munich
File:Irises-Vincent van Gogh.jpg|alt=Irises growing in a garden. There is bare soil visible and orange flowers in the background.|''[[Irises (painting)|Irises]]'', May 1889. [[J. Paul Getty Museum]], Los Angeles
File:Vincent van Gogh - Almond blossom - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=Pale pink blossoms on the branches of a tree against a pale blue sky.|''[[Almond Blossoms|Almond Blossom]]'', February 1890. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vincent van Gogh - Irises - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=Iris flowers and some green leaves in a yellow vase.|''Still Life: [[Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background]]'', May 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 819–820}}
<!-- File:Van Gogh - Vase of Roses.jpg|alt=Pale pink roses in a green vase, against a pale green background.|''Still Life: [[Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses|Vase with Pink Roses]]'', May 1890, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 819–820}} -->
</gallery>
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