Year 1888 Artist Paul Gauguin Location Van Gogh Museum Period Post-Impressionism | Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 73 cm x 91 cm Genre Portrait Created December 1888 | |
 | ||
Similar Paul Gauguin artwork, Artwork at Van Gogh Museum, Portraits | ||
The Painter of Sunflowers (in French: Le Peintre de Tournesols) is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Paul Gauguin in December 1888.
Background
The portrait was painted when Gauguin visited Van Gogh in Arles, France. Vincent had pleaded with Gauguin to come to Arles to start an art-colony. Gauguin eventually agreed after funding for the transportation and expenses was provided by Vincent's brother Theo Van Gogh; however Gauguin only stayed for two months as the two often quarreled and the famous incident where Van Gogh severed his left ear with a razor occurred after an argument with Gauguin.
Van Gogh’s first impression on seeing the painting was that Gauguin had depicted him as a madman. He later softened his view. "My face has lit up after all a lot since, but it was indeed me, extremely tired and charged with electricity as I was then".