Van Gogh Vase with Twelve Sunflowers Lamp Shade

Vase with Twelve Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas, 1888 or 1889, is a still life painting of a dozen sunflowers set in a large vase against a cool gray background. Painted in thick strokes of heavy impasto oil paint, the sunflowers are drawn in an emphatic, expressionistic manner that captures the character and inner life of each individual sunflower. A range of warm yellows, oranges and reds contrast with the cooler gray tones of the vase and background, the flattened forms bringing out a symphonic blend of similar, heightened colors. Van Gogh painted this as part of a series of sunflower paintings to decorate his Yellow House studio home in Arles in the south of France.