Five Van Gogh Sunflowers versions united in Facebook live stream

On August 14, 2017, five museums each holding a version of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers will present their painting in a live stream on Facebook, marking the first time all five versions are accessible simultaneously across three continents. The participating institutions are the National Gallery in London, the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, and the Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art in Tokyo. Starting at 6:50 PM, five 15-minute presentations will be broadcast on each museum's Facebook page, beginning in London and ending in Tokyo. The museums collaborated with Facebook to create a virtual platform called Sunflowers 360, simulating a digital exhibition where users can interact with the paintings at 360 degrees. The Sunflowers were painted between 1888 and 1889 during van Gogh's stay in Arles, France. Two versions are lost: Still Life: Vase with Five Sunflowers, owned by Japanese entrepreneur Koyata Yamamoto, was destroyed in a fire during World War II; Vase with Three Sunflowers, last shown in Cleveland in 1948, was bought by an anonymous American collector and has not been seen since.