When I heard that Van Goghs Sunflowers were being put side by side for the first time in 60 years at The National Gallery in London, my initial reaction was one of elated joy. For far too long now Van Gogh's work has suffered from a lack of exposure, due mainly to the artists omission from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Whilst the likes of Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo have all cashed in on the free publicity given by the fictional team of anthropomorphic reptiles, Van Gogh's legacy has been sitting quietly in the shadows.But now Van Gogh's PR team have come up with a marvelous idea to try and create some press for the struggling artist. The Dutch Van Gogh museum have lent us their 'Sunflowers' which pales in comparison to our one, take my word for it. In fact if you google all the Sunflowers I think The British one pisses on them all, possibly with the exception of the Japanese Sunflowers, but fear not patriots, that was destroyed in a house fire during the World War Two, so we can sleep safely in our English beds knowing we are top dog when it comes to the Sunflowers.
Brief History
As many of you know Van Gogh thought it would be nice to have a few paintings adorning the guest room of his Yellow House that he was renting in the South of France in 1888. He was expecting a visit from his buddy Paul Gauguin. Apparently Gauguin rocked up in his G-Star Hooded Sweat and had a spell there but the two quarreled and Gauguin threw all his toys out of the pram and left. Before he did however he asked Van Gogh if he could take the 4 Sunflower paintings from the guest room. Van Gogh told him, in no uncertain terms, to do one.VERDICT
A must see. The X-ray canvasses show the genesis of the paintings and are themselves, worth the price of admission. Which is nothing.
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