Sunflowers

# 8

Oil paint on canvas on cardboard, 14×18 inches. Handmade oil painting.

Масло, холст на картоне, 35 * 45 см

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, like little suns, illuminate and make every interior cozy. The oil painting was painted in 2020 from a full-scale exhibition. Handmade oil painting.
Sunflowers — like potatoes, tomatoes and corn, sunflowers were brought to Europe from America. At first it was grown as an ornamental plant, sometimes boiled baskets were used. Oddly enough, as a crop for oil, sunflower migrated back to America from Russia. The sunflower was grown in the east and south of North America more than 2,000 years ago, eating seeds in whole, crushed, raw and fried, made from them, and added to other dishes. In the temple of the Aztecs Templo Major (in Tenochtitlan), 10 wild sunflower seeds were found, which were used as an offering to the gods. The stem juice was used to heal wounds, the infusion of the leaves was used to treat the kidneys and lungs.

See other paintings by Evgenia Zragevskaya here: The warmth of the fire

The sunflower was grown in the east and south of North America more than 2,000 years ago, eating seeds in whole, crushed, raw and fried, made from them, and added to other dishes. In the temple of the Aztecs Templo Major (in Tenochtitlan), 10 wild sunflower seeds were found, which were used as an offering to the gods. The stem juice was used to heal wounds, the infusion of the leaves was used to treat the kidneys and lungs.
The Indians made purple and black dyes using wild sunflowers, and oil from the seeds was applied to the skin and hair. Flowers were an adornment of hair, clothes.
In South America in Peru, he was the symbol of the sun god Inti.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the seeds of the plant were brought to Spain, grown in a botanical garden. Gradually, the sunflower migrated to France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and other countries. Following the American Indians in Europe, the sunflower began to be considered a symbol of the sun. In the paintings of artists of the 16-17 centuries, he also denoted loyalty to the monarch, symbolized the Creator, the ruler. In heraldry, he began to mean peace and prosperity.