Vincent van Gogh - Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers 1888

Vincent van Gogh - Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers 1888

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers 1888
100x76cm oil/canvas
Location: Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art
Sold for: USD 39.7 million
Auction house: Christie's, London
Sale date: 30 March 1987
Seller: Helen Beatty, daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty
Buyer: Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp.

From Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art:
Van Gogh painted twelve “sunflower” works, seven of which date from his Arles Period, perhaps the painter’s artistic high-water mark. Seeking the bright Japanese quality of light seen in Ukiyoe wodblock prints, the artist settled in Arles in the south of France, where he rented the “yellow house” dreaming of establishing a colony of artists. He had planned to decorate the room he prepared for Gauguin with twelve “Sunflowers.” Unfortunately, the “sunflower,” project ended at seven, and his communal life with Gauguin ended after only two months.
This work is painted on a portion of a 20-meter sheet of canvas purchased by Gauguin when he came to live and work with van Gogh in Arles. Gauguin’s “L’Allee des Alyscamps, Arles” is also painted on canvas from this sheet.