The vase is painted with bright colors, while in the Monet painting the viewer hardly notices the off-center vase. It is hard to imagine the Van Gogh flowers in their bright vase standing quietly in a peaceful corner of a room like Monet's flowers. The viewer feels like an observer in the Monet painting, like a fly on the wall, but the viewer of the Van Gogh painting stares at the sunflowers as if the viewer were looking into the eyes of a human being painted in a portrait. All of this is due to how the arrangements of the flowers contribute to the distinct tones of both paintings. Monet's vase of flowers is slightly off center, which seems to make the flowers seem less important. What is interesting about the painting is not the flowers, but the way that the light seems to cause the flowers to look hazy, gauzy, and makes them hard to see clearly. But in Van Gogh's painting, the sunflowers form the focus picture and take center stage. It is as if the artist is saying that they are so important, they cannot be pushed to the side of a room or corner. The sunflowers seem to have a distinct personality, again, almost like a portrait rather than a still life. Also, there is no clear direction of the light in Van Gogh's painting. The sunflowers are harsh and bright in their yellow and orange tones as if lit from above, while the Monet flowers seem to be lit from an angle. The moods of the two paintings are also quite different. A few of the flowers in Van Gogh's painting...

This may be yet another reason why the moods of the two paintings are so different. Monet's painting looks very natural. The impression of the flowers is comforting for the viewer. Van Gogh's distinct flowers seem to have different personalities, as if the flowers are at war with one another. Even though the sunflowers are still, the swirling texture of the painting creates a mood of wildness. The sunflowers are picked and inside someone's home, just like Monet's flowers but Van Gogh still creates a sense of stormy emotion even through the use of a still life subject like flowers.
Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" shows that a painting of sunflowers does not have to feel still, even though it is a still life. The bright colors, their swirls, and the importance given to the flowers and their vase, as well as the different flower's moods and positions make the viewer feel many different emotions, sadness for the dying flowers and nervous about the brightness of the healthy ones. Monet's flowers are very clearly still, and they convey a single mood of serenity, just as all the flowers have the same color, texture, and character. Monet shows a picture of sunflowers in a room, lit by sunlight, while Van Gogh focuses on the sunflowers alone, and lit by their own bright colors.

Works Cited

Monet, Claude. "Sunflowers." 1881.

Van Gogh, Vincent. "Sunflowers." 1887-1889.