{"id":13008,"date":"2020-03-09T16:21:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T20:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=13008"},"modified":"2020-08-14T13:21:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T17:21:42","slug":"kaleidoscope-1-sunflowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2020\/03\/09\/kaleidoscope-1-sunflowers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaleidoscope #1: Sunflowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I woke up to go to the Met with my brother over winter break, \u201cSunflower, Vol. 6\u201d was buzzing in my ears. Harry Styles\u2019 second solo album, <\/span>Fine Line<\/span><\/i>, had been released a few weeks earlier and the sunny, syrupy track had firmly stuck itself in my subconscious. That\u2019s probably why Claude Monet\u2019s \u201cBouquet of Sunflowers\u201d caught my eye later that day. And looking at the painting, the song seemed to make a little more sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is it about sunflowers that make them so inspiring? Monet\u2019s painting, through the lens of \u201cSunflower, Vol. 6,\u201d offers some hints.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunflowers\u2019 most obvious alluring quality is how interesting they are to look at. \u201cMy eyes \/ want you more than the melody\u201d is how Styles describes his draw. The yellowy-gold of sunflowers\u2019 petals is captured in Monet\u2019s painting, contrasted with reds and blues. Sunflowers pop. They invite you to admire them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The flip side to this is that they\u2019re mysterious. \u201cWish I could get to know you\u201d Styles croons. Everyone knows what a sunflower looks like, but it\u2019s unusual to find one in a garden or a vase. Maybe that\u2019s why Monet\u2019s depiction of many sunflowers bunched together feels so unruly. Sunflowers are bold \u2014 what might they be hiding?<\/span><\/p>\n

My favorite line of \u201cSunflower, Vol. 6\u201d is probably the most telling \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t wanna make you feel bad \/ but I\u2019ve been trying hard not to talk to you \/ my sunflower.\u201d This points to sunflowers\u2019 importance in terms of their metaphorical potential. I\u2019d like to think that maybe Monet was trying to capture the essence of a person he knew in his painting, or a feeling he had. Something or someone that felt simultaneously playful and serious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monet\u2019s painting and Styles\u2019 song seem to point toward sunflowers representing an almost. They are full of life \u2014 they way their stems curve in every direction in \u201cBouquet of Flowers\u201d suggests that they are strong-willed. They\u2019re good company \u2014 Styles repeatedly asserts \u201cI couldn\u2019t want you anymore\u201d to his \u201csunflower.\u201d But something\u2019s missing. I\u2019d be remiss not to account for how sunflowers act in nature. Their movement literally follows the sun. Sunflowers are always wanting, always reaching, always trying to get a little closer to their source of warmth. To no end. The floral representation of love is already taken by roses, sunflowers get something a little more complicated \u2014 complete adoration.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I woke up to go to the Met with my brother over winter break, \u201cSunflower, Vol. 6\u201d was buzzing in my ears. Harry Styles\u2019 second solo album, Fine Line, had been released a few weeks earlier and the sunny, syrupy track had firmly stuck itself in my subconscious. That\u2019s probably why Claude Monet\u2019s \u201cBouquet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2218,"featured_media":13010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1551],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13008"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13018,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008\/revisions\/13018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}