Sunflowers
"THE SUNFLOWER IS MINE IN A WAY" Vincent Van Gogh
This was my painting of the day in my desk diary - an absolutely iconic painting. From my reading about it, it seems that he painted 11 versions over two years, although some of them were sort of copies. One was destroyed by fire in WW2, one is in a private collection somewhere and hasn't been seen since 1948 and the rest are scattered around the world. You will not see them all together - or even one of them here, because they are either too fragile or their owners do not want them to go anywhere - they are the main drawcard for all the galleries who are lucky enough to have them. So just enjoy the reproductions. There are literally millions of them.
And here is a painting by Paul Gauguin of Van Gogh painting his sunflowers.
I gather Van Gogh did not like it at first - he thought Gauguin made him look mad, but he later decided that he just looked tired.
I'm not an art critic so I won't try and analyse the sunflower painting, other than saying it is pure Van Gogh - writhing with life almost.
But still on art - I promise to move on to food - Ai Weiwei - that controversial modern day Chinese artist whose work we saw recently in Melbourne alongside Andy Warhol's - he had an installation at the Tate Modern that was entirely made up of sunflower seeds.
Well - not really, because actually the 100 million 'seeds' that it took to fill the great hall at the Tate Modern were actually individually made by hand in China from porcelain. The original intention was that people would be able to interact with the installation by walking over it and doing whatever they wanted with them - pick them up, etc. However, it was discovered that with so many people interacting this way dust was released which became a health hazard. Therefore they stopped people walking on it although they could still walk around the edge and touch them. According to the curator it is:
"a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses ... What does it mean to be an individual in today's society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?" Mmm.
"Make it like a sunflower." Steve Jobs
Which refers to the iMac that you could move up and down and around. It was a thing of beauty. A work of art. A must have item. A revolutionary thing.
But that's all I'm going to say on art. It's not my field, although I will post here some very artistic photographs I found. They were so lovely I couldn't resist.
But, pardon the pun, I love the fields of sunflowers in France. This very poor photo is one that I took on a past holiday.
And isn't it curious how they have come to represent Provence? The sunflower motif is found on all their tourist stuff and it is just ubiquitous. And yet France is not one of the top producers of sunflower oil or seeds - the largest field of sunflowers is in Tuscany and the biggest producers are Russia, Ukraine and China. But nevertheless for me they remain quintessentially French. The French name is lovely - 'tournesol' which means turn to the sun, because that's what they do - their heads turn to follow the sun. How great is that!
"a satellite dish for sunshine." Helen Mirren
Sunflowers are one of those foods that are native to America and which were brought to Europe by the Conquistadors - initially as a decorative plant. It was Peter the Great of Russia though who really made it into a commercial crop and to this day the largest producers of sunflower seeds are the Ukraine and Russia followed by China, Roumania and Argentina. The Russians worked hard at developing the plant - so successfully that it was imported back into America where it is once again a big crop. Way back when it was first cultivated in Mexico - some 5000 years ago it was also used ceremonially - both in costume, as an offering and decoratively. As well as eating the seeds the Native Americans also used the dried stalks as building material. And I believe the ash from burnt seed husks - or maybe it's the stalks - is a good fertiliser. If you want to learn more about its history there is an excellent and detailed history of the plant at Kuriositas which is also where I found those lovely photographs .
Foodwise there are two main foodstuffs - the seeds and the oil, although it is also possible to make a flour from the dried seeds. The seeds we eat are not technically the seed - they are the kernel. The husk is discarded and the seed eaten either raw, roasted or in foods such as cereals or bread. It's a good substitute for nuts if you have allergies and can be used in much the same way as you use nuts.
The oil is obtained by crushing the seeds. Sunflower oil is polyunsaturated and became very popular as a cooking oil and also as a component of margarine, but it seems that it may actually be a contributor to heart disease and cancer when heated, so its future is a bit in doubt at the moment. Thank you Michael Mosley. Such are the vagaries of food production. It will be interesting to see what the final verdict is on sunflower oil. And what that will do to the landscape. I don't imagine those French farmers grow it just for the tourists.
Animals can eat it though.
"Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.” Helen Mirren
Food is truly beautiful.
