His butterflies did not pose alone: the plant told the story

A caterpillar on a leaf, a chrysalis and a butterfly may seem to form a pretty arrangement. In the images of Maria Sibylla Merian, their meeting responds to a search: to understand the stages of a life and their relationship with plants. The illustration does not just present an isolated animal.

In 1699, Merian moved to Suriname with his daughter Dorothea. They studied caterpillars and their transformations, then returned to Europe in 1701. The book published in 1705 associates insects with their nourishing plants. The boards make visible relationships that separate specimens in a collection could make forget.

This work also relies on the knowledge and help of local people, notably enslaved in the Dutch colony. The results are not those of an observer entirely alone. Behind the beauty of an image are breedings, ongoing observations, and shared knowledge in deeply unequal power relationships.