Vincent van Gogh showed his deep appreciation in nature by painting many pieces focusing on flowers. One of van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo said, “Come now, isn’t it almost a true religion which these simple Japanese teach us, who live in nature as though they themselves were flowers?” (qtd. Edwards 168).
The simplicity of living in a natural setting as if he were a flower that belonged in a field was something van Gogh strived for when he moved to Arles. In this sense, paintings such as View of Arles with Irises (1888) and the sunflower series are actually self-portraits, in which van Gogh sees himself as not just a flower living in nature, but also Japanese.
In Arles he completed one of his most well-known works, Fifteen Sunflowers in a Vase (1888). The use of intense yellows and oranges bring the flowers to life, capturing in his painting the brief period in which the sunflowers are opening. As Nemeczek stresses, “Van Gogh’s most famous flower still lifes thus came into being in great haste ‘for the flowers fade so soon, and the thing is to do the whole in one rush.’” (Nemeczek 90).
The brevity of the peak of life for the sunflowers relate to how samsara only allows a limited amount of time for each section of the life cycle. The sunflowers would flower brilliantly for a short while, die off, and then grow back again next season. The relation of flowers to the Buddhist cycle of samsara correlates strongly to how in Self-Portrait Dedicated to Gauguiin, van Gogh paints himself as a Buddhist monk.