Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

A dozen sunflowers crowd together in a simple clay vase, some bursting with fresh petals and others already bowing their heavy heads. Vincent van Gogh painted this burst of yellow in 1888 while living in Arles, in the sunny south of France, where he was waiting for his friend and fellow painter Paul Gauguin to come stay with him. He planned to fill the guest room with sunflower paintings, hoping the golden blooms would feel like a warm welcome. Racing against time, he worked in the morning light before the cut flowers could droop, which explains the fast, energetic swirls that make up each petal.

Yellow sits against yellow here, the warm flowers glowing in front of a soft turquoise wall, all built up with paint so thick you could trace the ridges with a fingertip. The blooms tell a small story about time passing, from the plump fresh ones to those that have started curling and going to seed. On the belly of the vase, Van Gogh signed his first name only, "Vincent," painted straight into the pottery. He held these sunflower pictures close to his heart and considered them truly his own, and today they rank among the best loved works in art.