Life‑cycle bouquet Symbolism
A life-cycle bouquet gathers buds, open blossoms, and withered seed heads in one arrangement to picture time’s passage and the renewal that follows decline. In still-life painting, this device compresses growth, peak, and fading into a single emblem, inviting reflection on mortality, endurance, and return.
Life‑cycle bouquet in Sunflowers
In Sunflowers (1888), Vincent van Gogh stages the full cycle across fifteen blooms, from fresh buds to brittle seed heads, so the bouquet itself becomes a measure of time. The yellow-on-yellow palette, thick impasto, and green shocks of stem and bract heighten the tension between vitality and decay, while the vase signed "Vincent" turns a humble arrangement into an emblem of endurance and fellowship.
