Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

I love Van Gogh's still life paintings/drawings and I think that they are fascinating for a variety of reasons. This piece is interesting, because it illustrates the life cycle or how all living things connect in some way. The flowers in the vase itself are not all completely lively. There is a flower or two that are very vibrant and appear to be full of life. The yellow hue is highly contrasted, and the pedals of the flower peak out and stand taller, which subtly contrast with the flowers that are in the process o dying, or the flowers in the vase that have already died. For example, the flower in the upper left corner of the piece has slightly wilted pedals, and the hue is slightly duller and toned down. I then see the flowers in the middle of the painting/center of the vase that are an even darker and duller hue of yellow than the other flowers, which represents the death of the flower. This is such an interesting piece, because it represents the life cycle all in one piece - and we all relate to this because that is what everything on this planet encounters - life and then death. I also think the light blue hue that was chosen as the wall color is interesting because when we think of light blue, we think of calmness. This is very significant to the concept of the piece, because eventually all living things have to come to terms with the idea that death will eventually be near. It represents the idea of being at peace with the life cycle and accepting the idea that anything can happen at any given moment. 

Image derived from: Van Gogh, Vincent. Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers. 1889. Painting. Van Gogh Gallery, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, United States of America. Web. 14 Oct 2013. <http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/595/Still-Life:-Vase-with-Twelve-Sunflowers.html>.