Detail of a Bouquet of Sunflowers by Monet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2018

Title: Bouquet of Sunflowers

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)

Date: 1881

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 39 3/4 x 32 in. (101 x 81.3 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929

Accession Number: 29.100.107


In November 1888, Van Gogh wrote: "Gauguin was telling me the other day—that he’d seen a painting by Claude Monet of sunflowers in a large Japanese vase, very fine. But—he likes mine better. I’m not of that opinion." Critics had earlier praised the "brio and daring" of Monet’s technique when he showed this still life, depicting sunflowers that grew along the pathway to his garden at Vétheuil, at the 1882 Impressionist exhibition.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437112