The painting "Sunflowers" is among the most famous paintings by Van Gogh. He made it in January 1889 in Arles, southern France. In total, he painted five large canvases of sunflowers in a vase, with three shades of yellow "and nothing else. Thus he showed that it was possible to create a picture with many variations of one color without losing expressiveness.
Vincent's 'Sunflowers' are an enduring inspiration for contemporary artists. This exhibition "Sunflowers, Otherwise Nothing" features several paintings and a 3D experience by six artists that reference Van Gogh's famous painting "Sunflowers. And Otherwise Nothing. The artists exhibiting are:
Wouter van Riessen (Bloemendaal, 1967) has been working for years on a series of variations on Van Gogh's fifteen sunflowers in a vase. He finds the three versions Vincent painted of them in 1888 and 1889 special: they are flowers, but then again they are not. As he began to reproduce the flowers, he kept seeing new images come to mind, merging the associations into new bouquets.
Matijs van de Kerkhof (Nuenen, 1977), worked feverishly in the (corona) winter of 2021 in Zundert on paintings inspired by well-known works by Van Gogh. Several self-portraits, sowers, spitters, landscapes, portraits and also sunflowers. For this exhibition in his hometown of Nuenen, he once again picked up the brush and palette knife for a new series of sunflowers and portraits after Van Gogh.
Sara van Vliet (Baarn, 1998) depicts the banality of life and absurdity of our existence in her paintings. With a background as an elite athlete, Van Vliet puts her physical energy into large canvases, on which she experiments with materials such as plaster, glue and spray paint. Her still lifes are infused with layers of narrative depth.
Eva Krause (Dusseldorf, 1970) painted the canvas Corso during a residency in Zundert in which she immersed herself in the tragic figure Vincent van Gogh: his life, his doubts, his early death. Everything breathed Van Gogh, every crow on the roof and every sunflower in the garden made her think about him. Who was he? What was he looking for? This search is expressed in Corso.
Margriet Smulders (Bussum, 1955) was inspired not only by Van Gogh's sunflowers, but also by the dahlias used for the Zundert flower parade. The combination of these different types of flowers has resulted in a particularly exuberant series of photographs.
Ben van Kemenade (Nuenen, 1997) graduated from the Dutch Design Academy in 2023 and works with a certain perfectionism and passion for woodworking. Alongside the inevitable speed of our industrialized existence, he creates a thoughtful tranquility: with attention to material, craft and heritage. He belongs to a new generation of designers who are storming into the future with an eye for craftsmanship and tradition.
""...This summer two flower arrangements with nothing but Sunflowers in a yellow earthen pot. Painted with the three chromate yellows, yellow ochre and verone green and nothing else.-" "
Arles Jan. 22, 1889, Vincent to painter Arnold Koning
