Giant Peacock Moth

Painted at Saint-Rémy in May 1889 — the same month Van Gogh entered the asylum — this detailed study of a giant peacock moth (Saturnia pyri) is among the most extraordinary works of his confinement. He wrote to Theo about finding the moth in the asylum garden and being transfixed by its size and strange beauty. The painting demonstrates Van Gogh's ability to find profound interest in the smallest natural phenomena, and his continued connection to the living world even in confinement. The giant peacock moth, Europe's largest moth, becomes in his hands almost an emblematic creature of the asylum garden.

The moth is rendered with unexpected delicacy — its wing patterns of ocelli and subtle colour bands described with careful, fine brushstrokes quite different from Van Gogh's usual bold impasto. The branch it rests on is painted with characteristic upward energy. The contrast between the meticulous moth and the freely handled foliage background creates an unusual painterly tension.