<P> Sunflowers ( original title , in French : Tournesols ) is the name of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh . The first series , executed in Paris in 1887 , depicts the flowers lying on the ground , while the second set , executed a year later in Arles , shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase . In the artist 's mind both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin , who acquired two of the Paris versions . About eight months later van Gogh hoped to welcome and to impress Gauguin again with Sunflowers , now part of the painted Décoration for the Yellow House that he prepared for the guestroom of his home in Arles , where Gauguin was supposed to stay . After Gauguin 's departure , van Gogh imagined the two major versions as wings of the Berceuse Triptych , and finally he included them in his Les XX in Bruxelles exhibit . </P>
how many paintings of sunflowers did van gogh paint
two