This happened during the American air attack on Japan during the second World War. In 1945, one of Van Gogh’s Arles painting Vase with Five Sunflowers was destroyed by a fire. The advantage to van Gogh's Sunflowers being scattered is that they are accessible to people across the world. Adjusted for inflation, that price tag nearly doubles to approximately $74.5 million in 2014. It was a part of the private collection of Koyata Yamamoto. Even now, so many years after his death, many people see him first and foremost as the painter of Sunflowers. Though van Gogh created a few sunflower paintings prior to 1888, there is a distinct difference between those and the still-life oils that came later. Gauguin fled back to Paris.
The painting “Vase with twelve sunflowers” was written by Vincent Van Gogh in 1889, a year before his death. The opening bid of $8 million was almost quintupled within 5 minutes through a bidding war between two unidentified competitors who were bidding via telephone. Dazzling us again after 70 years, Van Gogh's long-lost sunflowers: He painted seven versions of his glorious masterpiece - but one was destroyed by an Allied bomb. A couple of weeks later, however, he wrote to van Gogh requesting that painting, “Sunflowers,” praising it as “a perfect page of an essential ‘Vincent’ style.” The canvas is filled with light and joy. The two artists had a blowout fight, and van Gogh sliced off his ear, suffered a mental breakdown and ended up in the hospital. In 1889, van Gogh was invited to participate in a group show in Brussels called the XX (or the Vingtistes). Many critics and connoisseurs believe that the picture is made in a very bright color, in the yellow color that the artist loved so much. His earlier works were of cut sunflowers, whereas his 1888-1889 paintings featured sunflowers in vases, according to the Van Gogh Gallery. Inspiration Isaac Israëls, Woman Standing in Front of Van Gogh's Sunflowers, 1916-1920 Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" set records by being auctioned for $39.9 million at famed Christie's auction house in 1987. Van Gogh suggested to his brother, Theo, an art dealer and van Gogh's agent, that he send six paintings to be exhibited with the group, one of which was The Red Vineyard. The downside, however, is that few people will ever get to see them as a … Also, it was said that since the painting had a very large frame, it was difficult to take it from the wall during the bombing. Even then he suffered from an incurable mental illness.