Bouquet of Sunflowers - Painting by Claude Monet

Bouquet of Sunflowers or sometimes simply Sunflowers is a painting by Claude Monet executed in 1881. The medium of the painting is oil on canvas. The dimensions of the painting are 39 3/4 x 32 inches, i.e. 101 × 81 cm. The painting was part of the private collection of H.O. Havemeyer who acquired it in 1929. On Mr. Havemeyer’s death, his wife bequeathed it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The sunflowers that Monet used as the subject for his painting grew along the steps that led to the garden of his house in Vétheuil. The painting was shown in 1882 at the seventh Impressionist exhibition. Monet’s technique got him the admiration of his critics.
Vincent van Gogh who is also known for his series on sunflowers saw Monet’s Bouquet of Sunflowers at Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery in Paris in 1886. Van Gogh said of Monet’s painting:

“Gauguin was telling me the other day that he had seen a picture by Claude Monet of sunflowers in a large Japanese vase, very fine, but – he likes mine better. I don’t agree.”

Bouquet of Sunflowers is part of Monet’s series on seven different kinds of flowers which includes chrysanthemums and dahlias. Among all of these, Sunflowers is the most well-known. This series of paintings is in fact one of the very few examples of still lifes in Monet’s works.