---
title: "Birds Snake and Owl (2005), Chico da Silva by Babá, painting"
description: "Birds Snake and Owl (2005), Chico da Silva by Babá. Acrylic on canvas, 74 x 109 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/birds-snake-and-owl-2005-064/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/birds-snake-and-owl-2005-064/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/aves-serpiente-y-buho-2005-064/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/oiseaux-serpent-et-hibou-2005-064/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/aves-cobra-e-coruja-2005-064/
  ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A3%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%89-%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-2005-064/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E9%B8%9F-%E8%9B%87%E4%B8%8E%E7%8C%AB%E5%A4%B4%E9%B9%B0-2005-064/
---

# Birds Snake and Owl

![A tall white crane flanked by an owl, a peacock and a smaller bird amid trees on a yellow ground. Birds Snake and Owl, Chico da Silva by Babá, 2005, acrylic on canvas.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-064/chico-da-silva-by-baba-birds-snake-and-owl-2005-acrylic-on-canvas-74x109cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-064-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-064/chico-da-silva-by-baba-birds-snake-and-owl-2005-acrylic-on-canvas-74x109cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-064-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A horizontal painting crowded with stylized birds and foliage against a luminous pale-yellow background streaked with wavy horizontal lines suggesting ground and sky. At center stands a tall white wading bird with a long sinuous neck doubling back, a slender orange beak and thin legs, its body finely outlined. Behind and around it twist serpentine necks ending in additional bird heads. In the upper left a round-eyed owl with tufted ears perches among the bare branches of a dark tree whose trunk runs down the left edge. At lower left a large fan-shaped bird displays plumage dotted with red and gray eye-spots over a clustered tail. On the right a peacock-like bird spreads a broad rounded tail patterned with blue and orange ocelli. In the upper right a leafy green tree fills the corner. The palette is dominated by golden yellow with accents of red, lavender, blue and gray throughout the densely patterned feathers.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva by Babá](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** 2005
- **Technique:** Acrylic on canvas
- **Support:** Canvas
- **Dimensions:** 74 x 109 cm
- **Motif:** [Birds](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/birds/)[Snakes](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/snakes/)
- **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/)
- **Signature:** CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ, lower left
- **Photo:** Eric Keki
- **Inventory no.:** [JCC-064](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-064)
- **Article:** [Babá, the First Disciple](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/baba-the-first-disciple/)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/baba-signature-2005-jcc-064-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

*The canvas is signed “CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ”, in the lower left corner.*

## Provenance

1.  The artist, Fortaleza, 2005
2.  Instituto Cultural Oboé, Fortaleza
3.  Leilão Montenegro, auction, 2025
4.  João Cunha Collection

## How to credit

[Photographs free to reuse, with credit (CC BY 4.0)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/#license)

Chico da Silva by Babá, “Birds Snake and Owl” (2005). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-064

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-064/manifest.json)