Van Gogh’s series of sunflower paintings are arguably his most famous. He painted them while he was in Arles in the south of France in 1888 and 1889. In total, he made five large canvases of sunflowers in a vase. He wrote that these paintings represented “gratitude” and held special significance for him. Paul Gaugin, Van Gogh’s good friend, described the canvases as “totally Vincent.”