Giant Van Gogh Painting

ercwttmn/CC BY-ND 2.0

There is no mystery behindCameron Cross’s Big Easel Project, and the public work is exactly as it sounds. In 2001, Cross began work on a 24-foot by 32-foot reproduction of Van Gogh’sThree Sunflowers in a Vase, which he then displayed on a giant steel easel on the outskirts of Goodland,Kansas.

Somewhere between roadside attraction and part of the landscape, the massive still life replication easily draws the gaze of drivers and visitors, but seldom sees much more attention than that.

Cross first dreamt up the idea in his hometown of Altona,Canada. After working as a teacher and artist in the town, he wanted to give something back, and so decided to recreate one of the Dutch master’s works. Well received locally, Cross traveled across the world toAustraliaand eventually Kansas where he erected his massive picture on an 80-foot easel off of I-70.