LEGO Art has come a long way since its debut back in 2020. What started as a mindfulness exercise in carefully placing dot tiles or studs in pop art mosaics has expanded to a variety of pas relief from Comic Books to Renaissance masterpieces and Japanese woodcuts to modern sculpture. With the release of 31215, we see an ongoing evolution of the theme

How does this model stack up compared to LEGO Art sets that I have put together in the past? In this review, we will take a look at some of the building techniques used, how the set adopts several tricks and techniques used by Vincent van Gogh. Along the way, we will take a look at his fascination with sunflowers, and some of the highlights of the build for me. Finally, we will hang it on the wall. Probably next to Starry Night, and see how it looks.

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

The Box

The box is ‘standard 18+ set black, with a large, oblique image of the final model on the front, along with the Van Gogh Museum’s ‘sunflowers’ logo.

We are reminded that the build comes with an accompanying podcast, featuring the designer, Stijn Oom, as well as some of the team from the Van Gogh Museum. The back of the box shows the original painting (well, the Van Gogh museum’s replicant of the 4th variation of sunflowers in a vase) next to the build, as well as the obligatory lifestyle photo and a closeup of the build itself.

The box also reveals the new visual identity for LEGO Art. Previously, there has been no specific identity or branding for LEGO Art on the box, and the website once features the Word Art filled in with grey dots. This year, the word art has shifted to a lower case form, with a frame added next to the wording.

As the sets are aimed at an 18+ audience, the obligatory ICONs style greeble strip has been added (metallic gold in this set). On closer examination, the strip features elements such as the minifigure palette and paint brush.

Lets open up the box:

As we open up, there are a total of 34 numbered bags, and around 5 bags containing a mixture of light bluish grey 16×16,(12) and 6×16 plates (3) along with a couple of flex tubes. The Knoller in chief has not laid those elements out as we go along, but she has laid out the rest of the 2498 pieces included in the set. We shall come to them later…

Historical Diversion: Why sunflowers?

Lots of painters paint flowers. Vincent van Gogh was no different. After years of trialling different types of flowers: experimenting with their form and colours, he resolved to create works based on the Sun Flower. The flower takes on so many forms, from bud, through to blooming, withering and going to seed, and Vincent van Gogh enjoyed painting them all.

He initially painted a series in Paris, while he was staying with his brother Theo (1886-1888). These sunflowers were lying on a surface, not in a vase. However, when he moved to Arles, in the south, he painted a new series:

Van Gogh created 4 paintings of Sunflowers while in Arles. He also made several copies, or repetitions of his original paintings to present as gifts. The LEGO designer set out to make this set as close as possible to repetition of the fourth version, which is held in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. With this fourth version, van Gogh had set out to create the image in three shades of yellow.

The Frame

We start by working on the frame.: lots of tan elements, the trame is two bricks thick, and included a double layer of technic 1×2 bricks. The frame, structurally, consists of a layer of plates, topped by two layers of bricks, with another two plates on top of that. The frame is topped off with a layer of tan plates around the edge. This takes us up to the end of Bag 6.

The Canvas

The under lying supports of the canvas are made of reddish brown bricks and plates, covered by 16×16 plates and secured at junction points with 4×4 round plates on the reverse surface. This was occasionally clumsy to deal with while building on my knees, and I recommend taking on this part of the build on a firm surface.

As we lay the canvas, we cover it with the background: predominantly cool yellowtiles, with a few plates. Plates of other colours are used to mark areas where flowers will be placed, or other elements will be laid on top.

I was initially a little intimidated by the task – worried that it might be too easy to make a mistake. However, as the task involved filling a single plate at a time, it was not too onerous. Compared to the first Art set I ever attempted – the Hogwarts Crest, and subsequently converting it to Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, this was a much easier task. LEGO Art has evolved from using dots and studs at every available opportunity to using larger tiles and plates, filling the space faster, and the varying shapes are more likely to reveal an error sooner rather than later, The joins between canvas plates are covered by 2×2 cool yellow tiles. There are a few clips amongst the plates and tiles. I’m sure their purpose will be revealed later.

As we enter the lower region of the image, the background changes to yellow, and we start laying down the outline of the vase. Once we have completed the canvas, it looks a bit like this:

However, the top appears a little incomplete compared to the sides and bottom edge. And this is because of the insert, a feature of the copy of the original painting, kept in the collection at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

Historical Diversion: The Insert.

The frame of this particular image appears to have been extended: Van Gogh’s original brushstrokes cover the connection between this added wooden slate, and the original canvas. Initially they were held together with some small nails and glue. Additional bolts were added by a conservator in 1936.

There is another repetition of the 4th version, currently displayed in Tokyo.

You can read more on the Van Gogh Museum’s website here.

And so we add a small slat, just a few studs wide to complete the frame.

It connects into the top of the existing canwas that we have built up, making a complete background for the image.

The Complete Canvas

Here is the complete canvas, front and back:

From here, we start to build up the picture layer by layer.

Historical Diversion – Impasto: Layering up

Van Gogh painted his sunflowers in a vase using an impasto technique. The paint was thickly layered onto the canvas, on top of the previous layers, resulting in the final image demonstrating a little texture. We see this in the build here where we have raised studs on the back ground, and as we build up individual layers.

You can see the texture in the painting, through layering the paint up. As we build up from here, we also add texture to the build.

We start with the vase, including the only printed element in the build: featuring Vincent’s signature.

From here we build up the heads of a couple of flowers: based around a dark green steering wheel, with lots of clips applied. Van Gogh set out to work in three shades of yellow, and so are we: cool light yellow; bright yellow and pearl gold.

Building up our layers and blooms

Now our canvas is set, we set about the blooms: our sunflowers are in various states of wellbeing: from blooming to decaying and going to seed. interestingly, van Gogh tended to paint the healthy flowers in what has aged to a duller shade, while the more withered blooms use brighter colours. Indeed, this particular painting he set out to paint using 3 shades of yellow, and little more ( although the greens certainly shine through), in the LEGO Build, we work with Cool yellow (bright light yellow)/Bright yellow and the flat/pearl gold. This latter colour is reserved for healthy flowers, and the nature of that pigment enhances the look of the petals, providing a feeling of additional texture in the build.

Withered and aging sunflowers are particularly good examples of how the impasto technique translates from paint to LEGO. I appreciate how the animal horn elements, in olive green and dark green, represent some of these failing and damaged blooms. Bright green horns are also used, perhaps representing aspects of fresher flowers.

While some of these aging plants are the more interesting layered builds – playing on shades of green, bright yellow and the occasional flat gold element, the thriving blooms are a little different. These are predominantly flat gold, with a golden or nougat centre (this sounds like they belong in a chocolate box…but I digress) These flowers are built around a steering wheel core, with groups of elements attached to clips forming the petals. This colour feels odd, initially, but when you compare it with the original artwork, it doesn’t feel as out of place. There is sufficient variety in the shape of the petals that they are not as frustratingly repetitive to build as they might initially appear. the with combinations of gold or tan 1×2 plates with clips, occasionally with added plates for thickness, or a 1×1 plate, plate with clip or roller skate. The addition of the lime green and dark tan elements is consistent with the source material (the copy of the painting held in the Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.

It is uncharacteristic for a Rambling Brick review to not go into obsessive blow by blow detail, but to be fair, with this build, there are regions of similarities and differences. we alternate between impasto flowers and full blooms during the build, and they are all different enough to each other. In the regions I have detailed above, you can see how the designer has worked to translate Vincent van Gogh’s brush stokes to the relative confines of the LEGO palette, even allowing for the off the grid techniques allowing leaves and petals to shrivel and droop.

Progress through the Build

Starting with the original canvas, lets look at some of the steps we pass on the way to completion. As you can see, just about every segment gives us a bloom, as well as a layered plate construction:

Framing

When we come to the end of the build, it is time to return to frame we built earlier, and wrap it around our canvas.

The Frame drops around the canvas fairly easily, and is then secured by Technic axles with a stopper on the end. The axles pass through normal Technic brick holes in the frame, and are secured in bricks with a cross hole for the axle. The axles protrude past the border of the canvas, so they can be easily accessed for removal.

I have to admit, the final result is quite striking:

In comparison with the original:

On first glance, the build looks ‘very LEGO, but when placed side by side with the original, I am more and more impressed with the way in which the details have been captured, using elements that capture the flow of the lines – be they curved tiles, coloured bull horns or diamonds. The choice on leaving visible studs in different locations also enhances the impasto technique used to layer up the original image. I am impressed at how many of the small details in the original make it over into the LEGO model.

Hang It

The final model has one central hanging brick, immediately below the ‘panel insert’. Earlier LEGO ART sets I have put together used two, making it a little hard to achieve a nice level hang.

Here is the current state of our living room wall…

In conclusion

In this latest LEGO Art set, the line really comes of age. Here is a build that, from a distance, looks a lot like the original. It is not a case of pixel art, but an evolution to a point that we see the mixture of plate and tile flow together to remind us of the original brush strokes in the image. The build is not complicated, but there are some areas that require added concentration. The ‘canvas’ background is put together in such a way that it is hard to make a mistake that will cost you more than 10-15 minutes. The flowers use a variety of techniques, and the way that wedge plates, tiles and horns work together to bring us the individual brush strokes of one level, and then layer up to provide the texture of the model in the same way that van Gogh’s impasto technique did on the original.

Meanwhile, van Gogh’s representation of the sunflowers using ‘3 shades of yellow’ is preserved here using bright yellow, cool light yellow and flat /pearl gold.

Overall construction was fairly straight forward, although the initial steps with constructing the canvas did leave me concerned the final build might be a little unstable. These concerns were gone when a model balancing on one edge got caught by an errant breeze, and fell onto the floral side. A few flowers needed to be reattached, but the canvas and frame were relatively unscathed

If I have any concerns about the final design, it might be with the way that petals and leave on the upper right ‘withering’ flower tend to point upwards, rather than across or down. Overall, I could probably deal with this pretty simply, rather than complain about it here.

The frame itself is sturdy, and the hanging element works well to support the model hanging on the wall. Interestingly, while the original 48 stud square mosaics in the first wave used 2 hanging bricks, this uses only one. It does make it easier to hang the finished product straight on the wall.

Overall, I really like the effect, and it has taken pride of place on the living room wall at the Chateau de Rambling Brick. I am happy to give this set 4.5 out of 5 Arbitrary praise units.

At $299.99AUD/$USD199.99/199.00€/£169.99 for 2615 pieces, the set feels a little more expensive than some of the early mosaic style builds, but is on a par with the Milky Way from last year. I would say, however, that I found this to be a more satisfying building experience than either the Hogwarts Crest, or even the Great Wave. The Designer Stijn Ood has shown his love and reverence for the source material in this model, wringing all he can out of the LEGO system to achieve an homage to van Gogh’s brushwork. I am a little disappointed that the podcast was unavailable to preview while I was building. However, it will be around to check out after March 1st, 2025.

The set will be available from March 1, 2025, but is available to preorder now from LEGO.com If you wish to order it, please consider using our affiliate links. The Rambling Brick might receive a small commission, but it won’t cost you a cent.

What do you think of this set? Do you feel it is well realised? Is is a project you are looking forward to completing? Will you hang it up in your living room? Leave you comments below!

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!