Misery And Memory In Two Van Goghs

Beneath soaring ceilings, in a small darkly painted gallery off the main hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, two immense sunflower paintings hang side by side. The paintings are bigger than I expected them to be, big enough that when I watch people pose between them, their faces are the size of only one of the flowers. These paintings are sisters, not twins. Exhibited for the first time together, both show a vase of sunflowers painted by Vincent van Gogh. But they are subtly, uncomfortably different. On the left hangs one in all yellow. Fifteen sunflowers sit inside an earthenware pot, the kind you might have at home. They are painted with Van Gogh’s signature thick globs of paint. Even the flat lemon-yellow background is textured with a basketweave pattern—for every vertical stroke there is one horizontal. The flowers themselves are a muddy yellow, their centers tinged with orange or brown. Seven of them stand erect and forceful; the other seven droop, dying. One of the drooping sunflowers, on the bottom right, splays its petals outward. The green underleaves of the flower streak skyward, outlined with a darker green, like flames, threatening the others. There is a single shot of blue, a crude line slightly higher on the left of the vase than on the right, that demarcates the yellow of the table from the yellow of the wall behind it. The right painting is of twelve sunflowers, inside the same type of pot. Its background is a shining, vibrant blue—still textured, but with less organization. The petals themselves are outlined in a slightly darker color, giving them a sharper, almost harsh appearance. The exuberance of the blue with the sharpness of the flowers makes the painting feel harried. The bottom of the pot is purple, and a bright, almost fire-hydrant red shines out from the center of one of the sunflowers. Van Gogh used the same red to outline the vase and sign his name. It's bright but not quite optimistic. There's something in there that feels a little unsettled. But maybe I just think that because I know too much.