Picture of Van Gogh's lost Sunflowers painting found

In an extraordinary feat, a Vincent Van Gogh expert has discovered a rare snap of a lost Sunflowers painting by the famous artist that shows for the first time how he wanted his work to be seen.

'Six Sunflowers' was created in 1888 by the painter, though it was destroyed in Japan in 1945, but a pic of the work has been uncovered in the archives of a Japanese museum, the BBC reported.

The Van Gogh specialist, Martin Bailey, who works as a curator and correspondent for The Art Newspaper, said that the artist wanted it to be exhibited in an orange frame, which was an integral piece of the artwork.

The painting, also known as Vase with Five Sunflowers, shows the flowers in a vase against a dark blue background.

Bailey found the photograph while researching his book 'The Sunflowers are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece'.