Two of Vincent Van Gogh's celebrated sunflower paintings are being exhibited side by side in London for the first time in more than six decades.
The paintings have become some of the most recognisable in the world since Van Gogh painted them 125 years ago.
Identical twins Edgar and Gabriel with the sunflower paintings at London's National Gallery. Photo: AFP
They are going on display at the National Gallery, already home to one of the paintings. The other version is on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Van Gogh painted the London version in the summer of 1888 to decorate a bedroom for fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a house they rented in Arles in southern France.
He used that as the basis to create the Amersterdam painting in the winter of 1889 after Gaugin had left Arles.
The pair worked together throughout autumn 1888, but the visit was over by the year when Van Gogh appeared to have a nervous breakdown, famously cut off part of his ear and entered an asylum.
The paintings are expected to draw huge crowds to the London gallery, the BBC reports.
The display will also include the results of recent scientific research into the two paintings carried out by both the National Gallery and the Van Gogh Museum.
