Conservation of the Amsterdam Sunflowers: From Past to Future

This chapter considers the conservation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, from past to future. It starts with the two main episodes of treatment performed in 1927 and 1961 by the Dutch restorer, Jan Cornelis Traas. Archival research provides an outline of Traas’s training, career, methods and approach viewed in the context of his day. Technical and scientific investigation of the Sunflowers helps understand what these former treatments by Traas (which are barely documented) entailed. Based on these insights, the condition of the painting is appraised and a conservation strategy defined. The past interventions severely limit options for renewed treatment. On balance the tendency is firmly towards preventive conservation, with only minor restoration performed.