World's Largest Easel

Goodland, Kansas, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

An 80-foot steel easel in a park on Business US 24 in Goodland, Kansas, holds a 24-by-32-foot reproduction of Vincent van Gogh's Three Sunflowers in a Vase. Canadian artist Cameron Cross erected it in 2001; the city calls it the third painting in his Van Gogh Project.

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World's Largest Easel

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Site-level location · 39.3495° N, 101.7102° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

In north-west Kansas, a steel easel rises 80 feet above Goodland to hold a copy of a Van Gogh painted 24 feet by 32. The idea began in 1996, when Canadian painter Cameron Cross wanted to give Altoona, Canada, where he was teaching, a landmark: an enlarged, hand-painted sunflower painting on an enormous easel. He then planned seven easels in seven countries, one for each of Van Gogh's seven sunflower paintings.

According to the City of Goodland, the town was chosen for its connection to sunflower agriculture, and its easel is the third painting erected in the project. It reproduces Three Sunflowers in a Vase, which the city describes as the first of the seven Arles sunflower paintings. The city gives spring 2001 for its erection, in what it calls Pioneer Park; a Rotary Club marker gives June 2001.

The city reports that the easel weighs 40,000 pounds and stands on cement pilings 30 feet deep. The canvas is 24 plywood sheets covered in fibreglass and finished in industrial acrylic urethane enamel, chosen for its resistance to ultraviolet light. Weather took its toll: in summer 2012 Cross returned to repaint and repair it over about a month. Since 2005 the Goodland Rotary Club has partnered with the city to promote and maintain it, laying 9,100 bricks for walkways and installing benches and a spotlight, according to the marker.

"World's Largest Painting on an Easel" is the city's wording. Kansas Tourism describes the easel as one of only three in the world, and a July 2026 When in Your State article called it one of only a few like it and the only one in the United States. The park lies on Business US 24 just east of Cherry Avenue, near Interstate 70 exit 19.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A large painting on a steel easel in a park beside Business US 24, with brick walkways, benches and a spotlight installed by the local Rotary club, according to the marker at the site. A July 2026 article said a floodlight keeps it visible at night.

ACCESS

In a park (the City calls it Pioneer Park; the Rotary marker, Goodland Rotary Park) on Business US 24 in Goodland, just east of Cherry Avenue and near Interstate 70 exit 19. It is an outdoor artwork in a park.

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