David Hockney has long explored still life as a means of personal expression, with flowers playing a particularly important role in his work. Sunflowers became especially resonant for Hockney in the 1990s, when he returned to drawing after a period focused on photography. The vibrant colour and sharply angled forms of the sunflower helped reconnect Hockney with one of his most favoured subjects.

Sunflowers embody the transience of life, and this etching captures that theme through the contrast between two large sunflowers in full bloom against the surrounding ripening buds, set within dense foliage. Hockney's use of rich aquatint in the stems and leaves of the flowers, set against the light grain of the wall and surface, emphasises their sturdiness and sense of weight.