Główny budynek Philadelphia Museum of Art w stylu neogreckim, widziany z Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Philadelphia Museum of Art · Fairmount / Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Van Gogh's Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow

Zakończona6 czerwca 2026 – 11 października 2026·30 $

Ta wystawa już się zakończyła.

Two of Van Gogh's Sunflowers hang side by side: the 1888 canvas on loan from the National Gallery, London, and the museum's own 1889 version.

Strona muzeum

Stand between the two canvases for a photo and, as Defector's Kelsey McKinney noticed, your face comes out about the size of one of the flowers. On the left is London's yellow Sunflowers from August 1888, which The Art Newspaper says has never crossed the Atlantic before. On the right is Philadelphia's own turquoise version from January 1889.

That's the whole show: two paintings in a small, dark gallery off the main hall. Van Gogh painted four sunflower canvases in one week in Arles to decorate his studio, then went back to the subject five months later. In between, Gauguin left and Van Gogh cut off most of his ear. The wall texts skip that, and McKinney thinks it's the reason to see the pair together: she found the January greens muddier and kept drifting back to the blue one.

It's a short stop, in Colket Gallery 251 and included with general admission. The last day is Sunday 11 October.

Wybór redakcji

„Słoneczniki” z 1888 roku z National Gallery wiszą obok własnej wersji muzeum z 1889 roku.

Zwróć uwagę na

The yellow background up close
Look at the flat lemon-yellow wall behind London's fifteen flowers: it is brushed in a basketweave, one vertical stroke for every horizontal, with a single crude blue line marking where the table ends.
The drooping bloom, bottom right
In the 1888 canvas one dying sunflower splays its petals outward while its green underleaves streak upward like flames.
The red signature
In Philadelphia's blue version, the bright red at the centre of one flower is the same red Van Gogh used to outline the vase and sign his name.
Van Gogh's plan, on the wall
A quoted letter describes the studio scheme the pair comes from: harsh yellows bursting against blue backgrounds, from the palest Veronese to royal blue.