Home/Symbols/Drooping sunflower (vanitas)Drooping sunflower (vanitas) SymbolismA wilting, downward‑facing flower evokes mortality and the fleeting nature of beauty.Common ThemesMedium reflexivity (art about art)Originality, authorship, and appropriationCare, nursing, and compassionMortality & transience (memento mori)Seasons & cyclesEnvironmental degradationArtworks Featuring This SymbolSunflowersVincent van Gogh (1888)Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888) is a <strong>yellow-on-yellow</strong> still life that stages a full <strong>cycle of life</strong> in fifteen blooms, from fresh buds to brittle seed heads. The thick impasto, green shocks of stem and bract, and the vase signed <strong>“Vincent”</strong> turn a humble bouquet into an emblem of endurance and fellowship <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.
