Allotment with Sunflower
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, July 1887
oil on canvas,
43.2 cm x 36.2 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
The huge sunflower is clearly the main subject of this painting. Van Gogh was very fond of this flower. In southern France, he painted large bouquets of sunflowers. And during his earlier Paris period, he devoted a series of still lifes to this subject.
Van Gogh made this painting on the hill of Montmartre in Paris. In the background, a little bit of the city is visible. On the left are the chimneys of the factories in the Clichy district. He painted this city scene on the back of the painting Head of a Woman, which he had made earlier in Nuenen (NL). This was a way of saving expensive linen canvas.