Heliotropism and the Sun God: The Greek Myth Behind Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Few paintings are as instantly recognisable or emotionally loaded as Vincent van Gogh’s 'Sunflowers'. With their golden hues and flame-like petals, they’ve become visual shorthand for the artist himself: fiery, obsessive, full of yearning. But while much has been said about Van Gogh’s technique and emotional state, there’s another story behind the blooms - a story not about paint or palette but of ancient Greek mythology.

A Flower That Follows the Sun

The sunflower’s most striking trait -  its ability to turn toward the sun - was understood long before it became a subject of still-life painting. This behaviour, known as heliotropism, finds one of its earliest and most enduring explanations in a classical myth: the story of Clytie and Apollo.

According to ancient Greek mythology, Clytie, a water nymph, fell deeply in love with Apollo, god of the sun, music, healing and poetry. When he didn’t return her affection, she wasted away, sitting motionless as she watched him ride his chariot across the sky each day. Eventually, her body took root in the earth, and her face froze in place, turned eternally toward the sun. Some versions say she became a heliotrope, but by the 17th century, artists had begun associating the story with the sunflower.

A Motif Emerges

Although sunflowers are native to the Americas and only arrived in Europe in the 16th century, artists quickly attached them to existing mythological and symbolic frameworks. Maria van Oosterwyck’s 'Flowers in an Ornamental Vase' (1670–75) places a sunflower and a carnation above a sculpture resembling Venus, or perhaps an immobile Clytie, suggesting a romantic connection. In Bartholomeus van der Helst’s 'Young Woman Holding a Sunflower' (1670), the flower appears to represent marriage or fidelity.

But it wasn’t just about love. In Anthony van Dyck’s 'Rest on the Flight into Egypt' (1632), a sunflower sits above the Virgin Mary’s head, symbolising religious devotion. In his 'Self-Portrait with a Sunflower' (c. 1633), Van Dyck gestures toward himself and the flower, possibly identifying with its loyal nature. Some art historians believe the sunflower in that portrait reflected not just artistic fidelity, but also loyalty to King Charles I, Van Dyck’s patron.

Van Gogh and the Light of the South

Centuries later, Van Gogh’s 'Sunflowers' would breathe new life into the motif. In the late 1880s, he painted several versions, particularly after moving from Paris to Arles, in southern France. He saw the region’s intense sunlight as a source of creative energy and personal renewal. “The sunflower is mine,” he wrote in a letter, claiming the flower not just as a motif, but as a symbol of artistic identity.

While he never explicitly mentioned the myth of Clytie or Apollo, Van Gogh was an avid reader with a deep knowledge of art history. It’s likely he was familiar with the sunflower’s layered symbolic past. His own use of the flower, particularly in paintings created to welcome fellow artist Paul Gauguin, suggests a blend of personal emotion, longing for friendship, and a spiritual or artistic devotion that echoes older traditions.

The Echoes in Contemporary Art

The sunflower’s legacy didn’t stop with Van Gogh. In the 21st century, German artist Anselm Kiefer has revisited the motif with darker tones. His works often show desiccated sunflowers emerging from books or even human forms, drawing attention to the themes of decay and rebirth. In 'Hortus Conclusus' (2007–14), the blackened plants drop seeds, hinting at life continuing after death.

Kiefer has cited the 17th-century occultist and cosmologist Robert Fludd as an influence, especially Fludd’s belief in a cosmic link between the heavens and living things on Earth. The sunflower, in this context, becomes more than a plant. It is a symbol of connection, a reminder that even as life withers, something reaches upward toward meaning, toward light.

A Flower Full of Meaning

For Van Gogh, the sunflower may have symbolised many things: his affection for Gauguin, his faith in art, his former religious beliefs, and perhaps even a yearning for love and spiritual transcendence. His own words hint at that complexity. Writing to his sister, he described the sunflower paintings as “almost a cry of anguish while symbolising gratitude.”

In the myth of Clytie, we see an image of total devotion that ends in transformation. In Van Gogh’s 'Sunflowers', that transformation is ongoing. The flowers are alive, then fading. They are bursting with colour, then quietly decaying. Through them, he explored not just beauty or technique, but the fragility and persistence of the human spirit.

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