The only painting by Vincent van Gogh in Kansas happens to be a reproduction, but also the world’s largest. It’s not the world’s largest painting, it’s just the world’s largest Vincent van Gogh. Got that? Good. If you happen to be driving down I-70 through the town of Goodland you might be distracted by “Three Sunflowers in a Vase”. Please keep your hands on the wheel. So who did this giant artwork? The Big Easel Project is the brainchild of Canadian artist Cameron Cross, who selected Sunflowers (it’s in the public domain) and created a 24 by 32 foot reproduction on an 80 foot steel easel (that’s 45,000 pounds) in 2001. He also did giant Vincents in Altona, Canada and Emerald, Australia and that’s about it. Maybe the guy is working on giant ears to go with the giant sunflowers.
In case you were worried that this is the only thing to see in Goodland, besides the homemade jerky of course, the town also has a replica of the World’s First Patented Helicopter. It is only a replica because the original was destroyed when it failed to fly. Also, back in the 1970s, two Goodland residents were abducted by space aliens never to be seen again. Something tells me those people just moved to Chicago or something. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.”
