John Bratby, R.A. (1928-1992)

Bratby explained 'that he loved the immensely strong image made by a sunflower, almost masculine in its presence. One of his artistic heroes, Van Gogh, had of course taken sunflower painting to amazing heights; it was bold indeed to take up this image as his own. He painted sunflowers right from his early days to the very end' (P. Davies, Bratby, Gwent, 2002, p. 21).