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This is the 23rd in a series on Vincent van Gogh's works that are featured on display at the exhibition titled "Van Gogh in Paris: a Dialogue with Modernism" at Seoul Arts Center. ― ED.
Vincent van Gogh's "Allotment with Sunflower" (1887) portrays an old allotment in Montmartre. The sunflowers in full bloom suggest the painting was created in summer, around mid-July.
The painter colored this artwork impromptu, but he never stopped experimenting with colors. He first painted large leaves and then the yellow flower. The brown fence and the front view were added later. Though limited colors are used for this painting, Van Gogh mixed oil paints to create his own colors.
Van Gogh made a poor living when he was in Paris and sometimes reused his canvases. He painted "Allotment with Sunflower" on the back of the "Head of a Woman," which he created in Nuenen, Netherlands in May 1885. The painting was hidden under a layer of painter's paper and later revealed during restoration work. Now, this double-sided painting is set in a special frame to show both works.