A Grasshopper Found in a Van Gogh Painting

Museum curators made an unexpected discovery in Van Gogh's "Olive Trees" – a grasshopper, trapped in the layer of paint for 128 years, ever since the painting was created. Experts at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City found the insect missing its abdomen and thorax.

The painter was famous for his love of painting outdoors, so it is believed the insect accidentally became part of the artwork while he was working in the open air.

"Van Gogh loved working in nature," says Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "So it's understandable that he had to contend with wind, dust, grasses, shrubs, insects, and grasshoppers."

Curators noticed the grasshopper during the project's inventory work. It had been hiding in the background of the painting among the brown and green tones.

Mary Schafer, the gallery's paintings conservator, only spotted the grasshopper after examining the painting with a magnifying glass. At first, she thought it was a leaf.

"Finds like this in a painting's paint layer aren't new," says Mary Schafer. "But discovering the grasshopper connects viewers with the very moment the painting was made, and it's a reminder of the artist's painting style."

In 1885, Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about painting outdoors and the challenges of working in nature:

"You simply go out, sit down, and paint right there! But from those four canvases I'm sending you, I picked off more than a hundred flies, not to mention the sand and dust. By the time I carry a couple of canvases home and push my way through a few hedges, a branch or two has brushed against them."

Entomologist Michael Engel of the University of Kansas says the grasshopper most likely landed on the canvas already dead, since the paint shows no signs of movement.