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Sunflower symbolism
Flowers play a vital role as vehicles of expression. As a declaration of love and a gesture of thanks, as a means of conveying congratulations, flowers are often the most eloquent and direct means of communication. The sunflower is considered to hold symbolic meaning in a number of folk cultures and traditions, though the meaning of these meanings is rarely understood deep within the culture. Many deeper meanings are found within the language of flowers, and how the meaning of each flower can differ depending on the arrangement and how it is used. For example, the sunflower symbolizes natural vitality, loyalty, and pride.Cartouche with fruit and flowers and wine glass, oil on panel, c. 1840 (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

Origins
The sunflower is a native of the Americas With its home space lying between northern Mexico and southern Canada, giving it its name. In a 2007 review of sunflower proteins, Sergio Gonzalez-Perez and Johan Vereijken claim that the sunflower was a common crop among North American Indian tribes and present in Arizona and New Mexico around 3000 B.C. It was an important source of food, medicine, and a pigment for body paint. Sunflower is a symbol of fertility and strength. In Peru, young women used to carry sunflowers or bunches of sunflowers at religious festivals, even adorning breastplates of pure gold with designs of sunflowers.

In Europe
Sunflowers arrived in Spain in 1569. Spanish explorer named Nicolas Bautista Monardes brought the domesticated sunflower to Europe in 1569, and that later Tsar Peter the Great had it transported to Russia. Soon wide expanses of the countryside were covered in yellow sunflowers. Sunflower seeds have been used for baking bread and as a substitute for coffee since the seventh century when they became popular as a decorative plant and soon they spread slowly across Europe. Gradually it made its way onto canvas and came to symbolize the sovereign and his subject's loyalty. In Britain, it came to represent the dependence between the king and his people. Flower symbolism was quite popular in Victorian England. The type of flower you presented someone always had a unique significance. The Victorians associated thankfulness with sunflowers.

In religion
It was typical for Dutch religious people to have images and books with illustrations that alluded to biblical texts in a symbolic way. It was widely known the semiology. A flower searches for the sun's direction throughout the day in order to fully receive its rays. It's a metaphor for a good Christian life. Thus, the "sunflower" teaches us something. Heat and light come from the sun. We require light to survive, behave properly, and make wise choices. We require warmth to be content and secure in a dangerous environment. God does, in fact, desire to bring warmth and light to each and every one of us. Jesus came as the "light of the world" (John 8:12) for all peoples. I am the light of the world, and whomever believes in me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" as Jesus stated ( John 8:12 ). And if we follow Jesus, as Christians, we shall walk in his light and serve as witnesses to it. The Bible states that "all kindness, justice, and truth" is the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9) The believer who fixes his sights on God manifests his qualities of goodness, righteousness, and truth, just as sunflower flowers yield oil.

Literary symbols


Ovid recounts the story of Clytie, a nymph who lusted after Helios, the Sun, until she was changed into a flower with a face that perpetually turns to follow her love through the sky. This heliotrope was probably not the sunflower, which gets its name from how it looks rather than how it behaves. However, the sunflower has long been associated with unrequited love or the longing of an earthbound soul for heaven.

Art
Sunflower paintings by Van Gogh are among his most well-known works. In 1888 and 1889, he performed them in the southern French city of Arles. Vincent used three different tones of yellow "and nothing else" to paint sunflowers in a vase on a total of five huge canvases. In doing so, he showed that it was feasible to produce an image that contained countless variants of a single colour without losing its effectiveness. For Van Gogh, the sunflower paintings held a unique significance since they expressed "thanks," according to his writing. The first two were hung in the chamber of his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin, who temporarily moved in with him in the Yellow House. The sunflowers, which Gauguin thought were "totally Vincent," captured his attention.