of dislocation & graceful unravelling

SM : Athens GA (ex-Pittsburgh) : photography & zines : Archive : Ask : : : selenographer.info

#painting

peaceinthestorm:

image

Vincent van Gogh ~ Giant Peacock Moth, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1889

“In May 1889 Vincent wrote to his brother Theo, ‘Yesterday I drew a very large, rather rare night moth there which is called the death’s head, its coloration astonishingly distinguished: black, grey, white, shaded, and with glints of carmine or vaguely tending towards olive green; it’s very big. To paint it I would have had to kill it, and that would have been a shame since the animal was so beautiful.’

"Later he decided to paint the moth after all, using his drawing as a model. Van Gogh called it a 'death’s-head moth’ and depicted a kind of skull on the back of its body. It was actually a giant peacock moth, however – a species that has only stripes there.”

Quote from the Van Gogh Museum: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0189V1962