47 pages • 1 hour read
Marta MolnarThe Secret Life of Sunflowers
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Violet’s funeral is a celebratory affair, with Bram Sr. carrying out the detailed wishes she left behind. Emsley’s mother finds the event abhorrent, and her father attempts to quiet her. As they are saying their goodbyes at Violet’s grave, Emsley catches sight of a man she recognizes to be Taylor Wertheim. He is elderly but stately. He suddenly trips near the grave and falls on top of the casket. Many rush to help him up.
Chapter 18 Summary
Theo is moved around to various facilities and finally to a psychiatric hospital in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Johanna is adamant that if he were to come home, her love would heal him. She leaves Wil in the care of her mother and takes a train to visit him. When she arrives, the hospital personnel advise against the visit, telling Johanna that Theo has worsened and does not wish to see her. She persists and finds him in a cell, experiencing an episode of acute mental illness.
Chapter 19 Summary
Emsley continues to clean out Violet’s home. Bram Jr. calls and jokes about the incident with Senator Wertheim, and then he asks to take Emsley out for coffee. Believing he is married, she refuses. Strena arrives later and asks Emsley to come with her to the Museum of Modern Art so that she can show her one of Violet’s paintings, Excalibur. Strena points out that the woman in the painting is a younger Violet. Emsley is empowered by the painting and by the insights Strena offers.
When Emsley returns to Violet’s home, Beatriz Amoso, the realtor, is waiting for her. She informs Emsley that the buyer has rescinded his offer; Emsley will have to re-list the house but cannot do so until her inheritance of it is finalized. Frustrated, she spends the rest of the day calling potential investors for her auction company, but no one she contacts is interested.
Chapter 20 Summary
It is January 1891, and Johanna returns to visit Theo. She is determined to lift his spirits so that he can return home; however, when she arrives, Johanna learns that he has died.
Chapter 21 Summary
The antiques dealer who is Bram Jr.’s cousin, Sergei Prokhorov, arrives to appraise several of Violet’s items. Emsley is shocked to learn how valuable many of them are, especially the carousel in the basement. They talk about Bram, and Sergei explains that Bram’s wife died more than a year ago.
Chapter 22 Summary
A month after Theo’s death, Johanna returns to Paris, determined to sell Vincent’s paintings in order to carry out Theo’s wishes. Dries argues with her, insisting that the work will not sell. He and his wife have decided to move back to Amsterdam, where Dries has taken a job. Johanna assures him that she will be fine on her own in Paris, stressing how much Theo did for Vincent. Dries encourages her to move back to Amsterdam as well, but Johanna refuses.
Chapter 23 Summary
Emsley reconsiders Bram Jr.’s offer to invest in her company. She prepares a formal presentation to give to him and his grandfather. He brings Sergei and Strena and one of her models listens in as well.
Partway through her talk, Trey arrives. He encourages Emsley to sign a contract that hands over her shares to him. He insists that she can start fresh in New York. Emsley proposes an alternative to buying Trey’s share in which they divide the company into New York and Los Angeles branches. The group of would-be investors tells Trey that they plan to invest. Emsley assures Trey that she will be able to raise the remaining funds by May, and Trey leaves.
Chapter 24 Summary
It is August 1891, and Johanna has returned to the Netherlands after all. She is attempting to run a boarding house where she lives with Wil. Her mother urges her to remarry. One day, Anna visits, and they talk of Theo, whom Johanna misses deeply. Johanna is determined to carry out her promise to him by selling Vincent’s art and making a name for him. Together, they peruse Theo’s letters to him, and Johanna has an idea: She will collect and edit the letters into a book.
Janus, a local carpenter whom Johanna has hired to frame some of Vincent’s art, arrives, and Anna leaves. As he is finishing, Johanna’s border, a widow with several cats, arrives with the mail. Later, in private, Johanna reads her letters; a gallery she had hoped would represent Vincent has refused. She sits outside, peeling potatoes, and Anna walks by. She and Anna discuss Johanna’s bad news. Johanna wonders if she should try promoting Vincent in the Netherlands instead, as it is his home country. She recalls a mural once displayed in The Hague. Anna notes that her husband, Jan, has a connection to The Hague through a friend, and Johanna sets off to write the friend a letter.
Chapters 17-24 Analysis
Senator Taylor Wertheim’s fall at the cemetery causes a stir. Emsley will later fear that there is suspicion that she tripped him intentionally. This mini scandal mirrors the scandals of the art world of Violet’s time and ironically reminds readers how truly scandalous it would have been if Wertheim’s attack on Violet were made public. He reminds Emsley of the injustice of Gender Norms and Expectations for Women and of the painful secret Violet kept throughout her life. Emsley, angered by Wertheim’s attack, is not satisfied to merely know his identity. As the novel unfolds, she will have a final reckoning with Wertheim. His tripping, in a sense, foreshadows this reckoning.
Theo’s decline and death mark a turning point in Johanna’s life. Though the visits to the psychiatric hospital are unpleasant, Johanna continues to visit Theo. She demonstrates Perseverance Through Adversity; despite the doctors’ advice that she should not witness Theo when he’s acutely ill, her visits demonstrate her strength and loyalty. When Theo dies, she grieves but quickly sets about the task of sorting Vincent’s paintings. Though she has no knowledge of or training in art, she quickly focuses on selling the paintings because gaining recognition for Vincent’s talent was important to Theo. By working toward Theo’s goals, Johanna shows her love for Theo and honors both his memory and his love for Vincent. This task will prove to be difficult and will take Johanna several years to accomplish. Her brother, Dries, is the first obstacle she encounters. He believes not only that Johanna should not return to Paris to live alone but also that she is foolish for continuing Theo’s task. Both Dries and their mother lobby for Johanna to remarry, which she refuses to do. She still loves Theo, and she feels that remarrying would be disloyal. The life she chooses is a difficult one. Remaining a widow means that she must support herself financially; that Johanna does so willingly indicates her grit, tenacity, and courage to defy gender norms (in keeping with two of the novel’s main themes).
As she continues her search for a representative who will agree to sell Vincent’s art, Johanna devises a new approach as each attempt fails. Likewise, Emsley must come up with new strategies as she attempts to save her business. Though she is initially adamant that she can raise $1 million, she revises her approach to take Bram’s advice: She approaches several small investors instead of a single large one. This fluidity parallels Johanna’s and proves necessary for Emsley to be successful. She refuses to succumb to Trey’s intimidation when he insists that she will never be able to take full ownership of the company. Wisely, however, Emsley is willing to work with Trey to reach a compromise where both of them can get what they want from the business. Emsley’s initial plan was not to develop a separate New York branch, but she is happy with this solution and makes a new life for herself in the city. Similarly, when she learns that the sale of Violet’s house has fallen through, Emsley must revise her plan. Though this news could have led her to panic, Emsley remains level-headed and rational, taking the necessary steps to re-list the house and undertake the task of selling it all over again. Her calm approach and refusal to let emotion overtake her prove instrumental in reaching her goals.
In this section, too, Emsley’s love and admiration of Violet is deepened when she views Violet’s painting Excalibur at the Museum of Modern Art. Though Emsley knows the painting, Strena teaches her how to view it in a new way, which allows Emsley to arrive at a fresh interpretation of the painting. Emsley’s experience is evidence not only of the complexity of Violet’s art but also of Emsley’s openness and intelligence. As in other aspects of her life, she must be willing to adapt and change. This painting becomes an important symbol in the novel, as Emsley later draws on it for encouragement.
