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World's Largest Easel.
World's Largest Easel -- or one of 'em, anyway.

World's Largest Easel

Field review by the editors.

Goodland, Kansas

A severe change in terrain comes when you descend the Rocky Mountains into central Colorado. After days of hairpin turns and two lane roads caught behind gasping Winnebago's, the Great Plains suddenly stretch before you in a never-ending flatness. No longer confined to travel along pioneer passes and river cuts, you can go in any direction you want.

Invariably, plains towns have the urge to raise their arms, and jump up and down, yelling, "Over Here!" We commend this, and when they yell, we'll aim our car towards the hubbub, whether it's the Wonder Tower in Genoa, Colorado, or the World's Largest Twine Ball in Cawker City, Kansas.

Close up and under the big Van Gogh painting.

For the past several years, Goodland, in western Kansas, has been waving at passers-by with the World's Largest Easel (or at least the largest along a U.S. Interstate). It's 80 feet tall, and atop it rests a 32x24-foot representation of one of Van Gogh's "Sunflower" paintings. It's about a half-mile off of I-70, along Hwy 24 near the center of town.

Kansas is the "Sunflower State," and Goodland is at the center of the local sunflower industry, so it makes sense. It made enough sense to the trade group, Sunflowers USA, that when Canadian artist Cameron Cross pitched them the idea in 2000, they raised the $150K necessary to build the thing. After overcoming some visa problems, Cross arrived and the Easel was dedicated in August 2001, during Goodland's Sunflower Festival.

World's Largest Easel.

Goodland's painting is a version of "Three Sunflowers In A Vase," one of the seven sunflower paintings Van Gogh made back in the late 1880s. Cross wanted to make giant tributes to all seven (Six originals still exist; one in Japan was destroyed in a bombing run during World War II). However, it looks as if the project might have stalled out. The first giant easel went up in Cross's hometown of Altona, Manitoba, in 1998, and in 1999 he finished one for Emerald, Australia. But it appears that Goodland's has been his last.

The easel is built of steel, weighing 45,000 pounds. The supports are sunk 35 feet into the ground. According to one reporter, "When asked when it would come down, [Goodland spokesperson] Price replied, 'It won't.'"

The painting is properly angled so that the sun illuminates it, and photos can be taken with a "Goodland" water tower in the background. A small parking lot is provided, but not needed when we arrived. Though initial estimates were for the easel to attract an additional 89,000 annual visitors, we were the only ones there when we visited.

Giant easel.

The painting, at 768 square feet, is nowhere near the world's largest (The World's Largest Painting by one artist is more than 40,000 square feet). However, one of the original Sunflower paintings sold in 1988 for $40 million. Its dimensions were 29x23 inches, or only about five square feet. At that rate, the Goodland painting could be worth more than $6 billion, easily qualifying as the world's most valuable work of art.

The easel is so big, the painting up high, and the surrounding land so flat, that it is hard to give it the right sort of perspective in photographs. There's not much that can be done for that, so we recommend an addition. We think that lying on the ground in the field in front of the painting should be a giant Van Gogh ear, maybe ten feet long (an ear to the scale of the painting would only be about three feet long). Something that can be climbed on (or in) would make for a better snapshot.

A visit to Goodland also offers a chance to see a replica of the World's First Patented Helicopter. It is only a replica, however, because the original was destroyed in its failed maiden flight, and the patent arrived after the pieces had been sold for scrap. And back in 1976, the International UFO Reporter noted that space aliens had abducted two Goodland residents -- but there is no memorial to the event. Clearly, the painting is the big draw.

Update: Artist Cameron Cross read our story about his giant easel project: "A giant ear...now why didn't I think of that?!?!?" We asked about progress on the Van Gogh front. "Getting the other four easels up is proving to be a struggle, but I am making headway. I will get all seven easels up before I go to that big art gallery in the sky!"

World's Largest Easel

Address:
Cherry Ave., Goodland, KS
Directions:
I-70 Exit 19, then follow the road north and west for about a mile. You'll see the easel on the right, at the corner of Cherry Ave.
Hours:
Lit at night. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
785-899-7130
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Tractor Parts GrasshopperTractor Parts Grasshopper, Goodland, KS - 4 mi.
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Barbed Wire BuffaloBarbed Wire Buffalo, Wallace, KS - 30 mi.
In the region:
Spirit of the Prairie: a Mom-ument, Colby, KS - 36 mi.

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