---
title: "Fantastic Birds and Butterfly (c. 1967), Chico da Silva, painting"
description: "Fantastic Birds and Butterfly (c. 1967), Chico da Silva. Gouache on paper, 55 x 76 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-073/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-073/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/aves-fantasticas-y-mariposa-073/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/oiseaux-fantastiques-et-papillon-073/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/aves-fantasticas-e-borboleta-073/
  ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A9-073/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E5%A5%87%E5%B9%BB%E9%B8%9F%E4%B8%8E%E8%9D%B4%E8%9D%B6-073/
---

# Fantastic Birds and Butterfly

![A tall fantastical bird with a spoked, wheel-shaped wing, a small chick, and a striped butterfly above. Fantastic Birds and Butterfly, Chico da Silva, c. 1967, gouache on paper.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-073/chico-da-silva-fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-undated-gouache-on-paper-55x76cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-073-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-073/chico-da-silva-fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-undated-gouache-on-paper-55x76cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-073-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A tall, fantastical bird dominates the composition, its long orange-and-white mottled neck curving down toward a small chick that reaches up toward its red beak. The bird's body is patterned in dense black-and-white dotwork, with a large circular, pinwheel-like wing structure spreading from its back in pale pink and cream tones with radiating spokes and a dark central eye. Orange clawed feet stand on a background of fine, multicolored hatched lines in orange, blue, green, and pink arranged in patchwork blocks, on aged, foxed paper. A striped butterfly with banded orange and green wings floats in the upper right.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** c. 1967
- **Technique:** Gouache on paper
- **Support:** Paper
- **Dimensions:** 55 x 76 cm
- **Motif:** [Birds](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/birds/)[Insects](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/insects/)
- **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/)
- **Signature:** FOSILVA, lower right (reversed D)
- **Photo:** Eric Keki
- **Inventory no.:** [JCC-073](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-073)
- **Article:** [Jean-Pierre Chabloz and the Discovery of Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/chabloz-and-the-discovery/)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «FOSILVA»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/chico-da-silva-signature-undated-jcc-073-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

*The canvas is signed “FOSILVA”, in the lower right corner. The D is reversed, so it reads as the artist's usual signature, “F. D. Silva”.*

## Provenance

1.  The artist, Fortaleza, c. 1969
2.  Private collection, c. 1969
3.  Sergio Longo Escritório de Arte, dealer, 2024
4.  Lordello Escritório de Arte, dealer, 2025
5.  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, “Fantastic Birds and Butterfly” (c. 1967). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-073

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## Also on Wikimedia

-   [Wikidata item](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140751157)
-   [File on Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chico_da_Silva_-_c._1967_-_Fantastic_Birds_and_Butterfly_-_Gouache_on_paper_-_55x76_cm_-_Jo%C3%A3o_Cunha_Collection.jpg)

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-073/manifest.json)