Birds Snake and OwlChico da Silva by Babá · 2005 · Acrylic on canvas
Birds Snake and Owl, Chico da Silva by Babá, 2005

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Birds Snake and Owl

Artist
Chico da Silva by Babá
Year
2005
Technique
Acrylic on canvas
Support
Canvas
Dimensions
74 x 109 cm
Collection
João Cunha Collection
Signature
lower left
Photo
Eric Keki
Inventory no.
JCC-064

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.

Provenance

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