The seventh annual exhibition of Les XX opened in Brussels with six paintings by Vincent van Gogh, including two Sunflowers, Ivy, Flowering Orchard, Wheat Field, Sunrise, and The Red Vineyard. The invitation from Octave Maus placed Van Gogh inside one of Europe's most alert avant-garde circles while he was still alive and largely unrecognized by the public. The opening dinner became notorious after Henry de Groux attacked the works, prompting Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Signac to defend Van Gogh. The exhibition also produced the sale of The Red Vineyard to Anna Boch, often cited as the only painting Van Gogh sold during his lifetime.
The Brussels showing became a crucial marker of Van Gogh's recognition by avant-garde peers before his posthumous fame.
