Yes, Van Gogh’s sunflowers were nice. (You do need to look at this link in order to fully appreciate his lament)
But, let’s face it, many of the petals had fallen off leaving only the brown centers, which he painted yellow for some reason! Honestly, yellow. What was he thinking?
OK. OK. He did have fifteen of them in a vase. That’s not easy to do because sunflowers are always falling out, taking a nose dive on to the carpet or the porch.
And, OK, he did get rid of those big green leaves, too. No big distractions.
But, all in all. Big whoop, Vincent.
Did Van Gogh grow HIS own sunflowers? Huh? Did he?
No, he DID not. Did NOT.
Van Gogh’s End of Summer Lament.
So there.
©Pat Coakley 2008
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Sunflowers sadden me a little.
Every time I see sunflowers I think about Mikhail Sholokhov’s book “Quietly Flows the Don” and how the Cossacks were always chewing on sunflower seeds.
That whole way of life has been lost, much like the past itself.
Sunflowers remind me that times flies, and it’s on the wing!
My sunflowers make the bees so happy that you’d have a tough time feeling sad around them. I’m not kidding– when I go to cut them, I get dive bombed from their buzzing admirers!
While still living in NYC, I’d buy sunflowers at Farmers’ Market stands at Union Square, simply because they made me happy.
I’m a Sun sign ( Leo ) and anything that could bring the Sun into my apartment, was a bonus.
As Razz has stated, they remind us that time flies, and I now find living in a climate that changes only subtly from season to season, I’ve found that time seems more suspended and seasonal change less noticed.
I’d grown them here a few years ago, and watched the birds land on them like their own deli, and fill up.
i love this! so yellow so yellow, ah but your sunflowers are a song to life and we all know what vincent suffered on his deathwish palette, sigh,
let’s just give him an ear (sorry) for the color he managed to surface through his fall fall fall season poor dear man
Tipota, Oh, you know. You are right. His deathwish palette…what a way to describe it. So true. And, tho, I was only kidding about his choice of yellow, it is true, his flowers are dying, most definitely. I like how you phrase just about everything!
Bonnie, sunflowers for some reason don’t have an affective association to me, although practically everything else in the world does! I guess because I find them so amazing. From a seed the size of a peppercorn, this 9-10 foot stalk grows…I’m still more enthralled. But, my flower boxes? Now, they are a cloud of melancholy befitting a tropical storm. Exhausted from three months of splendiferous cascading and blooming, they know their days are numbered before the mums arrive.
You are so darn cute. Yes everyone has seen Van Gogh’s sunflowers. My son, along with every other fifth grader at the time, had to try to replicate this image. One of my friends who also had a son in the same grade declared her son the new Van Gogh after seeing his copy.
My sunflowers are drooping and dieing in the garden. They look so sad, their floppy heads spilling seeds like broken teeth.
Autumn is soon coming. Are you ready?