---
title: "Fantastic Bird (1973) · JCC-008, Chico da Silva, painting"
description: "Fantastic Bird (1973) · JCC-008, Chico da Silva. Acrylic on canvas, 70 x 49 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-bird-1973-008/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-bird-1973-008/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/ave-fantastica-1973-008/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/oiseau-fantastique-1973-008/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/passaro-1973-008/
  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-1973-008/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E5%A5%87%E5%B9%BB%E4%B9%8B%E9%B8%9F-1973-008/
---

# Fantastic Bird

![A fantastic bird with a curling crest of peacock-eye spots against a black ground. Fantastic Bird, Chico da Silva, 1973, acrylic on canvas.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-008/chico-da-silva-fantastic-bird-1973-acrylic-on-canvas-70x49cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-008-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-008/chico-da-silva-fantastic-bird-1973-acrylic-on-canvas-70x49cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-008-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A vertical painting on a deep black background showing a stylised fantastic bird that fills the frame. The bird's long neck curls up and over into a sweeping crest dotted with concentric circular eye-spots in green, blue, orange and red. Its rounded body is divided into patterned zones: a mottled orange-and-yellow flank and a green section holding rainbow-outlined hearts. Fine hatched feathers and spiky red, green and blue leaf shapes radiate around it in the naive folk style. The painted signature and date appear in white near the lower centre.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** 1973
- **Technique:** Acrylic on canvas
- **Support:** Canvas
- **Dimensions:** 70 x 49 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-008](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-008)
- **Article:** [The Pirambu School](https://chicodasilva.org/en/pirambu-school/)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «FDZILVA»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/chico-da-silva-signature-1973-jcc-008-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”.*

## How to credit

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

Chico da Silva, “Fantastic Bird” (1973). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-008

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-008/manifest.json)