National Gallery to exhibit Van Gogh’s original Sunflowers triptych layout

Two of Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings, which haven’t been seen together since they were created in 1889, will be reunited at the National Gallery later this year. They will also be shown for the first time in the Triptych layout that Van Gogh originally planned.

Extract from Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, 1888 (c) The National Gallery, London

The National Gallery owns one of his sunflower paintings, which was originally made in August 1888 for Van Gogh’s brother Theo. The picture stayed in the family until the National Gallery bought it in 1924.

The other sunflowers painting was painted a few months later and left with Van Gogh’s friends Mr and Mrs Ginoux in Arles. In 1935, it was bought by Mr Carroll Tyson, of Chestnut Hill Philadelphia, before being acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1963. It hasn’t left the USA since 1935, but will be travelling to London later this year.

The two paintings will sit on either side of a portrait of a lady, La Berceuse (1889), as Vincent van Gogh always intended but was never able to see in his lifetime.

Sunflowers, 1888 (c) The National Gallery, London;
Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse), 1889 (c) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
Sunflowers, 1889 (c) Philadelphia Museum of Art

The sunflowers will highlight the National Gallery’s first exhibition devoted to Vincent van Gogh, featuring over 50 works and loans from museums and private collections worldwide. Groups of Van Gogh’s most ambitious canvases and works on paper will explore the artist’s creative process and his sources of inspiration.

As well as marking the Gallery’s 200th anniversary this year Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers also marks the centenary of the Gallery’s acquisition of Sunflowers as well as Van Gogh’s Chair (1888), two of its most famous pictures, in 1924.

Tickets to Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers go on sale on 27th June from here.