"AVOIR DES PAPILLONS DANS LE VENTRE 02/20" (2021)Photography by Bettina Dupont
Where do butterflies fly?
Butterflies fly, everyone knows. They have also flown in some of the most famous masterpieces in the history of art, falling into the genres of landscape, still life, and portraiture. Starting with the most familiar context for this insect, which is nature, it's impossible not to mention Salvador Dalí's "Landscape with Butterflies" from 1956. This work, one of the most famous by the Spanish master, includes, like others in his repertoire, the image of the animal in question, which, in this specific context, flies, despite an unrealized simulation of a sense of movement. In fact, the two butterflies appear rather static, as if they had been captured for observation, yet they find space within the atmosphere of a rocky landscape. This typical surrealist incongruity attributes dreamlike connotations to the insect, as if the viewer, instead of being awake and observing the painting, were perceiving the shadows and figures of the animals from his bed. In fact, like in a dream, it is also quite difficult to understand the real size of the butterflies, which stand out against a background devoid of rocks or other elements, providing no point of comparison in terms of size. What is described leaves the viewer with a strong sense of ambiguity, which can lead to questioning the symbolic meaning of these animals, often alluding to an unconscious need for metamorphosis, change, or freedom. For now, leaving aside the analysis of the multiple meanings of butterflies, let's talk about still life, which will happen through the brief contemplation of "Three Medlars with a Butterfly" (1705) by Adriaen Coorte, a painter from the Dutch Golden Age who approached this genre with a rather intimate point of view. What has been said can be found in our work of interest, where the butterfly and the fruit, accompanied by carefully studied light, create a mysterious atmosphere, capable of forever capturing the moment when the animal is about to land on the medlars, perhaps to suck their nectar. Regarding portraiture, on the other hand, we have the well-known perspective of Pisanello, the author of "The Princess of the House of Este," a portrait painted against a background of flowers and butterflies designed to create a synthetic outline. Analyzing the work in detail: it contains a vase, a symbol of the House of Este, and columbine, a plant mainly associated with death , which leads us to interpret the masterpiece as a depiction of a deceased person in the depicted age. This profile would lead us to the figure of Ginevra d'Este, the wife of Sigismondo Malatesta, who died at the age of twenty-one due to a depressive illness that struck her after the death of her son, Roberto Novello. Consequently, the masterpiece is to be understood as a work that, created after Ginevra's death, aims to synthesize the omens of death found in it, including the presence of a butterfly, an unmistakable symbol of the volatility of the soul.
"LE PAPILLON" (2020)Painting by Frédéric Martin
To Land or Not to Land?
Before we get to those masterpieces that, in the aforementioned genres of landscape, still life, and portraiture, show butterflies finally at rest, with their little legs on flowers and such, it is necessary to briefly present two masterpieces that show a situation halfway between flight and landing. I'm talking about "Jupiter, Mercury and Virtue" (1523-24) by Dosso Dossi, where butterflies fly, actually resting on the pictorial support, and "Butterflies" by Winslow Homer, in which a captured specimen rests its legs on the girl's gloves, while the other turns free, perhaps not for long. At this point, to land or not to land, that is the question, we come to Van Gogh, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Damien Hirst, and Canova, who have certainly opted for the latter of these options.
BUTTERFLY 2 (2023)Digital Arts by Poptonicart
"L'EFFET PAPILLON" (2022)Painting by Flore Betty
Where do butterflies land?
In Van Gogh's "Butterflies" series (1889-90), where this particular animal generally lands on flowers, it becomes a symbol of hope, as it has always been associated with feelings of freedom, life, and transformation. In fact, regarding the latter point, it is known that the painter, in a letter to his friend Émile Bernard, expressed himself about the miracle of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, associating it with the multiple possibilities available in the universe. Finally, many know that the artist, when in need of comfort, always sought hope in the various manifestations of nature. Now, as for still life, let's move on to Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder and his still life of flowers in a glass vase on a marble table, accompanied by a red admiral butterfly and a lizard, where, as anticipated by the title itself, the animal of our interest appears calm, having landed on the table, which hosts the main subject of the genre in question. If we now think about multiplying the figure of the butterfly almost infinitely, arranging it over the entire surface of the pictorial support, we would think of Escher's "Circle Limit with Butterflies" (1950), a work that I believe was a probable source of inspiration for the similar subject interpreted by Damien Hirst in the "Mandalas" series (2018-19), where the artist created concentric patterns of butterflies, referring to Eastern cultures. In conclusion, we come to the pairing of portrait-butterfly at rest, citing obligatorily Canova's "Cupid and Psyche standing," a white marble sculpture interpreting a subject dear to the Italian sculptor, in this case captured at the moment when Psyche offers her beloved a butterfly, a symbol of her soul and therefore her loving devotion. Finally, the story of insects continues through the contemporary work of Artmajeur artists such as Wang Quan, István Ducsai, and Walter Bosque.
GREEN BUTTERFLY (2022)Painting by Kristina Maslakova
BUTTERFLY (2023)Painting by Wang Quan
BUTTERFLY by Wang Quan
"The painting depicts a portrait of a girl with a butterfly on her face. The girl's face is the focal point of the painting, with delicate brushstrokes capturing her features in intricate detail. The overall effect is one of dreamy and ethereal beauty, with the butterfly symbolizing the ephemeral nature of life and the fragility of human existence." This is the comprehensive description of the subject and meaning provided by the artist himself, Wang Quan, a Chinese painter residing in Paris, who expresses himself through a realistic style, ready to capture themes drawn from nature and everyday life. Art history, on the other hand, could offer us many other stories about the animal immortalized by "Butterfly," which, as mentioned earlier, has often been used as a symbol of death, resurrection, marriage, and the ephemeral nature of beauty. In fact, butterflies, whose lives last only a few weeks between spring and early summer, have also been used in the genre of vanitas, as shown, for example, by the Dutch painter of the Golden Age, Maria van Oosterwyck. During the 17th and 18th centuries, at the height of European colonialism, artists and naturalists from around the world devoted themselves to detailing the flora and fauna of previously unexplored lands, generating seemingly scientific images, also representing butterflies. Finally, the fragility and beauty of these insects inspired further symbolic uses from the late 18th century onwards, while in subsequent Impressionist paintings, including Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," butterflies can be seen fluttering around scenes of middle-class leisure, to be placed within the context of the Industrial Revolution. Finally, butterflies become a symbol of rebirth in Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" (1940), conceived in response to the artist's need for rebirth after a serious bus accident that nearly took her life when she was young.
BUTTERFLY (2020)Painting by István Ducsai
BUTTERFLY by István Ducsai
A butterfly has landed on the dress of a young girl, who, dressed in white, holds a rich bouquet of colorful flowers in her hand while dreamily looking at the viewer. This is the description of Ducsai's painting, which, however, could also be interpreted differently, prompting us to ask: who is that butterfly really? Why does it seek contact with the portrayed figure on the canvas? The answers to these questions can be found in common beliefs in many cultures, which identify the insect as the embodiment of the souls of the deceased, who want to return in disguise to visit their loved ones, both to inform them of joyful events and impending dangers. The idea that not only the deceased but also otherworldly creatures can temporarily come to life in butterflies is confirmed by the figurative tradition that spread between the Renaissance and the late 19th century, where images of angelic butterflies were common. An example of what has just been revealed is some of the cherubs in Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi, created as a symbol of immortality linked to the celebratory context of the entire Gonzaga family. Returning to the aforementioned association of butterflies with the deceased, it should not surprise us, as the animal has been recognized by many cultures as a symbol of a soul capable of renewing and transforming itself, given its life cycle, which, from caterpillar, "dies" as a chrysalis and is reborn as a butterfly.
BUTTERFLY by Walter Bosque
"Entering" a black and white interior, we can observe a scene between the "tragic" and the miraculous: a woman lying on the ground seems to be "suffering," her body is about to take on other forms, anticipated by those cast by her shadow on the floor. The drama serves rebirth, maturation, and awareness of becoming, in this case, from a human being to a butterfly, from body to soul. At the moment when Walter Bosque took the photograph, the subject had almost already "assumed" the appearance of a butterfly, giving life to a hybrid being like the one painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in "The Abduction of Psyche" (1895), an oil masterpiece from 1895, aimed at immortalizing the eponymous subject in the company of Cupid, who, unlike the female character, has angel wings. Why this distinction? Psyche appears with butterfly wings because, unlike Cupid, she is not a deity but has achieved a state of immortality, as she was carried to heaven by her beloved, which filled her face with such joy and happiness that it left her body highly flexible, as if "dying." This aspect is also related to the most natural consequences of love, a feeling to which the woman surrenders completely, almost becoming a butterfly. Finally, regarding the Artmajeur artist, Walter Bosque, born in 1960, he mainly focuses on female subjects, portraying them primarily to capture their beauty and charm, often juxtaposing them with the natural world.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
