{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O16375"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16375/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC5308/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC5308/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC5308","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O16375","accessionNumber":"P.19-1962","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"The Eclipse of the Sunflower","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Paul Nash often incorporated a sense of mysticism into his painting. Although his starting point might be a natural object or an aspect of the landscape, he developed the symbolic imagery of his subject almost to abstraction. This watercolour, a version of an oil painting of the same title, is one of a series inspired by a poem by William Blake which begins: \r\n\r\nAh, Sunflower! Weary of Time\r\nThat countest the steps of the Sun; \r\nSeeking after that sweet golden clime \r\nWhere the traveller's journey is done…\r\n \r\nThe poem explores the relationship between the summer sun and the flower that turns to follow it, and later compares the Sun to an ideal object of human desire. Nash here uses the black centre of the flower, a mass of dark seeds, to represent the Sun's eclipse.","physicalDescription":"Watercolour showing an eclipse of the Sun.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nash, Paul","id":"A819"},"association":{"text":"painter","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BC5308"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS (VA)","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"69","box":"L"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1945","earliest":"1945-01-01","latest":"1945-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Mrs Margaret Nash, widow of the artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"41.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"57.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <u>Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1962</u>. London: HMSO, 1964.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This watercolour, a version of an oil of the same title is one of a series of paintings in which the artist developed the symbolism of the sunflower and sun based on a poem by William Blake. \r\n \r\nThis water-colour was on loan to the Museum from 1960.  There is an oil painting by Nash of this subject in the collection of the British Council.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Eclipse of the Sunflower'.  Watercolour by Paul Nash, 1945.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum.</u> London, 1985, p.204"},{"reference":{"text":"Evans, Mark et al. <i>Vikutoria & Arubāto Bijutsukan-zō : eikoku romanshugi kaigaten = The Romantic tradition in British painting, 1800-1950 : masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>. Japan : Brain Trust, 2002","id":"AUTH332409"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1962</u>. London: HMSO, 1964."},{"reference":{"text":"Coombs, Katherine <i>British watercolours : 1750-1950</i> . London: V&A Publications, 2012","id":"AUTH346240"},"details":"p.83, pl.73","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"sunflowers","id":"x35980"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["William Blake <i>Ah Sunflower...</i>"],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Paul Nash 1889-1946\nEclipse of the Sunflower\n1945\n\nThis is one of a serie of paintings inspired by William Blake's poem 'Ah, Sunflower'. The poem explores the relationship between the summer sun and the flower that turns to follow it. Nash uses the black centre of the flower to represent the sun's eclipse.\n\n\n\nWatercolour and pencil on paper\n\nBequeathed by the artist's widow, Margaret Nash, 1962\nMuseum no. P.19-1962","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["P.19-1962"],"accessionNumberNum":"19","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1962,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-14","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}