Description
Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) is Van Gogh’s own repetition of his London still life of fifteen sunflowers: a crowded bouquet in a pale, rounded vase on a table, set against a yellow wall. The Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo dates the original to 1888 and gives it as oil on canvas; Wikipedia lists it as F 457, about 100 x 76 cm. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 100 x 130 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) |
| Other titles: | Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers · Sunflowers |
| Painter: | Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) |
| Year painted: | 1888, Arles |
| Original size: | 100 cm x 76 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Post-Impressionism |
| Located at: | Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 16 sizes or made to measure |
Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) – Vincent van Gogh
What does Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) show?
Fifteen sunflower heads crowd out of a single vase and spread almost to the edges of the canvas. At the top one large head touches the upper edge; below it, to the left, a round head with a green centre faces us. On the far left an open flower throws out loose, flame-like petals around a dark, seedy centre. In the middle a flower looks straight at us with a dark ringed eye, its pointed green sepals spreading like a star, and to the right of it another shows a narrow dark slit where the seeds have begun to form. Low in the mouth of the vase two heavy, dome-shaped heads are built up from dense, short strokes.
Not every flower is fresh. On the left a head hangs on a long curved stem almost down to the table, dark and withered, and on the right another droops over the rim of the vase, its petals reduced to thin spikes around green sepals. The vase is a plain, rounded pot drawn with a dark outline and curving strokes; unlike the London canvas, it carries no painted name. The table edge runs across the canvas as one thin line, and wall and table are laid on in short, mostly horizontal strokes, so the bouquet stands in a broad field of yellow on every side.
Why did Van Gogh repeat the London sunflowers?
The Sompo Museum of Art writes that its canvas was based on the first Sunflowers on a yellow background, painted in August 1888 and now in the National Gallery in London. In the museum’s reading, the basic colour and composition are the same as in London, while the brushstrokes and the colour tones differ slightly, which suggests that Van Gogh worked with new considerations in mind rather than making a mere copy.
The museum dates the Tokyo canvas to between late November and early December 1888. The English Wikipedia article on the Sunflowers series lists it with the repetitions of January 1889, as a replica of the fourth, yellow version, so the exact month is not settled; both place it in Arles at the turn of 1888 and 1889.
What were the sunflowers in Arles for?
They were meant as decoration. The museum recalls that Van Gogh left Paris for Arles in February 1888 and invited Paul Gauguin, whom he greatly respected, to join him there as the leader of the artists’ community he hoped to found. Wikipedia describes the sunflowers as part of the painted decoration of the Yellow House, prepared for the guest room where Gauguin was supposed to stay.
Wikipedia also quotes a letter to Theo in which he imagined his Berceuse canvases between those of the sunflowers, which would stand beside them like ‘torches or candelabra’.
Where is the original today, and how did it get there?
The original is in the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo; Wikipedia gives its size as 100 x 76 cm. Wikipedia’s provenance list records its sale in 1894 to the painter Émile Schuffenecker.
The canvas is no longer in its original state: Wikipedia writes that it was later enlarged on all sides with strips of canvas, presumably by a later owner, Schuffenecker. On 30 March 1987 it was sold at Christie’s in London: the Japanese insurance executive Yasuo Goto paid the equivalent of US$39,921,750, at the time a record for a work of art at auction. Wikipedia notes that it is uncertain whether he bought it himself or on behalf of his company, the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company.
Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) or Sunflowers I – which is which?
Sunflowers I is the canvas in the National Gallery in London, painted in Arles in August 1888 with fifteen sunflowers on yellow; it is the composition the Tokyo canvas repeats. The Sompo Museum names the difference as slightly changed brushwork and colour tones. What you see at a glance is the vase, plain here and signed Vincent in London, and the wider band of yellow around the bouquet. Sunflowers II is the Munich canvas of August 1888, with twelve flowers against a blue-green background.
The Yellow House shows the house in Arles that the sunflower decoration was meant for, and Irises is a flower painting of May 1889 from the asylum garden at Saint-Rémy. Choose Sunflowers I for the first composition with Vincent on the vase, this one for the same fifteen flowers with more air around them, Sunflowers II for yellow on blue-green, and Irises for blue-violet flowers.
How is our hand-painted Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) made?
The painter first draws the line of the table, the outline of the vase and the circles of the fifteen heads, and checks the proportions against the original. Then come the wall and the table in short horizontal strokes, the vase with its dark outline and curving strokes, the green stems and leaves, and last the flowers: the flame-like petals one by one, the domed heads in dense dabs, and the withered heads. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.
On our version the relief is strongest in the domed heads and the petals, along the curving strokes of the vase and in the short strokes of the table. A print is completely flat; on our painting every brushstroke stands out in real paint.
Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.
Which size for which wall?
Short answer: 40 x 50 or 50 x 66 cm for a narrow wall in a hallway or a kitchen, 60 x 80 or 70 x 90 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, and 90 x 120 or 100 x 130 cm above a sofa or on a large wall.
There are 16 sizes: 40 x 50, 50 x 66, 50 x 69, 50 x 70, 54 x 75, 59 x 75, 60 x 80, 64 x 81, 70 x 90, 74 x 94, 75 x 100, 80 x 100, 80 x 105, 84 x 105, 90 x 120 and 100 x 130 cm (width x height). The original is about 76 cm wide and 100 cm high, so our 75 x 100 cm is very close to its size, and 50 x 66, 80 x 105 and 100 x 130 cm keep its upright proportions closely. So much yellow looks best on a white, cream or light grey wall and sits well with natural wood. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.
What if I need a custom size or a frame?
If none of the 16 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure in any width and height you need. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.
Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A gold frame deepens the warm yellows of the bouquet, while a white or pale wood one keeps the whole canvas light.
How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve. Our returns policy applies to every order.
You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If it is a present and you are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the Tokyo Sunflowers today?
In the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo. The museum gives it as oil on canvas, 1888. Wikipedia lists it as F 457, oil on canvas, 100 x 76 cm. It is one of the three repetitions Van Gogh painted after his sunflowers of August 1888, and one of the two that follow the fifteen-flower London canvas.
When did Van Gogh paint the Tokyo Sunflowers?
In Arles, at the turn of 1888 and 1889. The Sompo Museum of Art writes that it must have been painted between late November and early December 1888. Wikipedia places it among the repetitions of January 1889. Both agree that it came after the London canvas of August 1888 and that he painted it in Arles.
Are the Tokyo Sunflowers a copy of the London painting?
It is Van Gogh’s own repetition, not a copy by another hand. According to the Sompo Museum of Art, the basic colour and composition match the London canvas, but the brushstrokes and colour tones are slightly different, which suggests he painted it with new considerations in mind rather than intending a mere copy. Wikipedia calls it a replica of the fourth, yellow version.
How much did the Tokyo Sunflowers sell for in 1987?
The equivalent of US$39,921,750, according to Wikipedia. Yasuo Goto bought the canvas at Christie’s in London on 30 March 1987, and the price was at the time a record for a work of art at auction, over three times the previous record.
Is the canvas of the Tokyo Sunflowers in its original state?
No. Wikipedia writes that the Tokyo canvas was enlarged on all sides with strips of canvas, added at a later time, presumably by a later owner, the painter Émile Schuffenecker, who bought it in 1894. The Amsterdam repetition, by contrast, was given a strip of wood at the top, probably by Van Gogh himself.
How many Sunflowers still lifes did Van Gogh paint in Arles?
Seven, according to Wikipedia: four in August 1888, with three, five, twelve and fifteen flowers, and three repetitions. The five-flower canvas was destroyed in Japan in 1945. Two of the repetitions follow the fifteen-flower London composition, one in Amsterdam and this one in Tokyo, and the third follows the twelve-flower canvas in Munich.
Which size of Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) suits a living room?
Above a sofa, choose 90 x 120 or 100 x 130 cm, so that the canvas painting covers a good part of the width of the sofa and the fifteen heads read clearly from across the room. Above a sideboard or on a narrower wall, 70 x 90 or 75 x 100 cm is enough; 75 x 100 cm is very close to the size of the original.
Does your Sunflowers (Tokyo Version) have the raised brushstrokes of the original?
Yes. We paint it in impasto, building up each brushstroke in thick oil, so the surface is raised like Van Gogh’s original. You can see this best in the domed heads built from short dabs, in the flame-like petals and in the curving strokes on the vase, where the relief catches the light from the side.
- Subject: fifteen sunflowers, fresh and withered, in a plain rounded vase on a table, against a yellow wall.
- Original: 1888, Arles, oil on canvas, about 100 x 76 cm, F 457, Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo.
- Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 100 x 130 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: each painting is made to order, so allow 15 to 45 days, and our 3D app lets you try every frame on this painting before you order.
