---
title: "Dragons (1971), Chico da Silva, painting"
description: "Dragons (1971), Chico da Silva. Acrylic on canvas, 64 x 80 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/dragons-1971-016/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/dragons-1971-016/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/dragones-1971-016/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/dragons-1971-016/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/dragoes-1971-016/
  ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-1971-016/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E5%8F%8C%E9%BE%99-1971-016/
---

# Dragons

![Two confronting horned dragons with scaly bodies, fanned fins and gaping toothy jaws on a yellow ground. Dragons, Chico da Silva, 1971, acrylic on canvas.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-016/chico-da-silva-dragons-1971-acrylic-on-canvas-64x80cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-016-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-016/chico-da-silva-dragons-1971-acrylic-on-canvas-64x80cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-016-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

Two long, sinuous dragons fill the composition on a flat golden-yellow background, their bodies arching and intertwining as they face off. Each creature has an open jaw lined with sharp teeth, long whiskers, clawed limbs and webbed green fins along its spine. The serpentine bodies are densely patterned with fine cross-hatched scales in red, blue, grey and ochre, with curling flame-like and floral motifs in orange and red. The naive, decorative style uses tightly packed linear detail, and a faint inscription with a date appears at the lower right.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** 1971
- **Technique:** Acrylic on canvas
- **Support:** Canvas
- **Dimensions:** 64 x 80 cm
- **Motif:** [Dragons](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/dragons/)
- **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/)
- **Signature:** FOZILVA, lower right (reversed D and S)
- **Photo:** Eric Keki
- **Inventory no.:** [JCC-016](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-016)
- **Article:** [The Painting Factory](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/painting-factory/)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «FOZILVA»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/chico-da-silva-signature-1971-jcc-016-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

*The canvas is signed “FOZILVA”, in the lower right corner. The D and the S are reversed, so it reads as the artist's usual signature, “F. D. Silva”. Beside it sits the painter's thumbprint.*

## How to credit

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

Chico da Silva, “Dragons” (1971). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-016

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## Also on Wikimedia

-   [Wikidata item](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140868642)
-   [File on Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chico_da_Silva_-_1971_-_Dragons_-_Acrylic_on_canvas_-_64x80_cm_-_Jo%C3%A3o_Cunha_Collection.jpg)

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-016/manifest.json)