Did you know that the sunflower is the oldest known flower native to America? and, Did you know the earliest domesticated sunflower seed discovered to date is from the San Andrés site in Tabasco, Mexico, dated by AMS (radio carbon dating method) to somewhere between 2500-2800 BC. Also, a second site is in the eastern North American woodlands, evidenced by a seed recovered from the Hayes site in Tennessee. Humans have been using sunflowers in ceremonial ways and consuming wild sunflowers since as early as 2900 BC. No wonder they are so cool!
Sunflowers were probably made most famous by the artist Van Gogh (I know we have talked about him before in a previous post-but hey, he is worth revisiting). Did you know that his painting Vase With Fifteen Sunflowers was the first painting to out sell art created by the Old Masters? The painting sold in 1987 for triple what had previously been paid for any art until then. Van Gogh’s name appears 7 times in the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold. Ironically, he only sold one painting during his lifetime called The Red Vineyard for 400 francs. His seven paintings listed on this list sold for a combined total of $670 million, the last one selling around 1990.
Let me leave you with this quote about sunflowers, and the thought that if we were all to put as much effort into being followers of the light like this flower what kind of seeds we could sew.
Bring me then the plant that points to those bright Lucidites (those who perceive the truth directly and instantaneously) swirling up from the earth, And life itself exhaling that central breath! Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of light……
Best Regards,
