Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

Just Stop Oil protesters have thrown tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers but what is the painting’s value?

The painting is displayed at the National Gallery in central London after it was acquired in 1924 by the institution with the support of the Courtauld Fund.

The display of the painting celebrates the National Gallery’s partnership with Van Gogh’s museum in Amsterdam.

We take a look at the painting’s value amid recent reports at the National Gallery.

Van Gogh’s famous painting Sunflowers is estimated to have a value of 86 million euros (around £72m to £74m) as of 2022.

The Sunflowers painting displayed at the National Gallery is one of five versions on display in museums and galleries across the globe. The Dutch artist completed seven versions of Sunflowers in Arles, South of France, between 1888 and 1889, and four more in Paris.

The paintings were completed in the last months of his life and the artist hoped to sell one of them for at least 500 francs, around $125 at the time.

One of the versions was purchased by an anonymous buyer for nearly $40 million in 2017 at an auction house in London.

The sunflower had a special meaning to the Dutch artist and the drawings were “among Van Gogh’s most iconic and best-loved works”.

‘The sunflower is mine’, the artist said once. The Sunflowers painting features the different life cycle stages of a sunflower from a young bud to decay.

Van Gogh initially made the drawings to decorate his home in Arles before a visit from his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin.

Paul acquired two of the small Sunflowers drawings and sold them with other of his personal possessions to raise money for a trip to South Seas.

The 1889 version of Sunflowers – which is protected by a sheet of glass – is among the most famous paintings by Van Gogh. pic.twitter.com/JereIUEghg

On Friday (October 14, 2022), Just Stop Oil protesters threw tomato soup at the Sunflowers painting displayed at the National Gallery.

In a statement shared on Friday, the National Gallery said: “At just after 11am this morning two people entered Room 43 of the National Gallery.

“The pair appeared to glue themselves to the wall adjacent to Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888). They also threw a red substance – what appears to be tomato soup – over the painting.”

The statement added that there was minor damage to the frame but the overall painting was intact.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson confirmed to The Guardian that they had taken into account the painting was protected by a glass cover.

Statement from the National Gallery pic.twitter.com/DuZhTbAvbH

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