Beddinghouse x Van Gogh Museum

A symphony in blue and yellow was how Van Gogh thought the interior of the yellow house should appear when Gauguin arrived. He wanted to impress his friend with a series of decorative still lifes of sunflowers. These still lifes were to grace the walls of Gauguin's bedroom. Van Gogh started the series with great ardour. He had to work quickly as the flowers quickly wilted in a vase: 'I am painting with the enthusiasm of a resident of Marseilles eating bouillabaisse [Provençal fish soup], which shall not surprise you, when it involves painting large sunflowers'. Gauguin considered the paintings highly successful and declared that sunflowers should be Van Gogh's trademark. In 1889 Van Gogh tackled the motif once more, in this canvas now in the Van Gogh Museum.