---
title: "Fantastic Bird (1972), Chico da Silva, painting"
description: "Fantastic Bird (1972), Chico da Silva. Acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-bird-1972-012/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-bird-1972-012/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/ave-fantastica-1972-012/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/oiseau-fantastique-1972-012/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/passaro-1972-012/
  ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-1972-012/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E5%A5%87%E5%B9%BB%E4%B9%8B%E9%B8%9F-1972-012/
---

# Fantastic Bird

![A tall fantastic bird with an arched neck, patchwork body, and long striped tail. Fantastic Bird, Chico da Silva, 1972, acrylic on canvas.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-012/chico-da-silva-fantastic-bird-1972-acrylic-on-canvas-70x50cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-012-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-012/chico-da-silva-fantastic-bird-1972-acrylic-on-canvas-70x50cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-012-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A vertical composition centered on a single fantastic bird. Its long neck arches upward and curves over to a small fish-like head with a large round red eye, crest, and open beak. The rounded body is a patchwork of multicolored dotted segments in red, blue, green, ochre, and white, and a long striped tail of fine colored lines sweeps down to the right. Slender orange legs end in curved black talons at the lower left. The background is filled with horizontal wavy bands of red, blue, and cream. The artist's signature and year appear at the lower center. The style is naïve and densely decorative.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** 1972
- **Technique:** Acrylic on canvas
- **Support:** Canvas
- **Dimensions:** 70 x 50 cm
- **Motif:** [Birds](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/birds/)
- **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/)
- **Signature:** FDZILVA, lower center (reversed S)
- **Photo:** Eric Keki
- **Inventory no.:** [JCC-012](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-012)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «FDZILVA»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/chico-da-silva-signature-1972-jcc-012-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

*The canvas is signed “FDZILVA”, at the center of the lower edge. The S is 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, “Fantastic Bird” (1972). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-012

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-012/manifest.json)