This is one of 4 paintings of sunflowers from Aug. & Sept. 1888. Van Gogh intended to decorate Gauguin's room with these paintings in the Yellow House that he rented in Arles in the South of France.... The dying flowers are built up with thick brushstrokes (impasto). The impasto evokes the texture of the seed-heads. Van Gogh produced a replica of this painting in January 1889, and perhaps another one later in the year. The various versions and replicas remain much debated among Van Gogh scholars. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers) Sunflowers are the subject of 2 series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. ...the second set, executed a year later in Arles, shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. ...Neither the third nor the fourth shows the dozen or 14 flowers indicated by the artist, but more—15 or 16. For various versions and repetitions, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflowers_(Van_Gogh_series)