Grasshopper found embedded in van Gogh’s ‘Olive Trees’ painting

A small grasshopper has been found embedded in a Vincent van Gogh painting at a Kansas City museum.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art said in a news release that the insect was stuck in the thick paint in the lower foreground of the famed artist’s Olive Trees, which is estimated to have been created between 1853 to 1890.

Van Gogh was known for painting outdoors and mused in an 1885 letter to his brother that: “I must have picked up a good hundred flies and more off the four canvases that you’ll be getting.”

Paintings Conservator Mary Schafer made the grasshopper discovery while examining the painting under magnification. The bug isn’t visible through casual observation.

The museum enlisted the help of paleo-entomologist Dr. Michael S. Engel to see if the grasshopper could help better determine the specific season van Gogh painted the work.

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However, there were no signs of movement and the thorax and abdomen of the grasshopper was missing, prompting Engel to conclude that the grasshopper was dead before it ended up on the canvas. More precise dating using the insect was not possible, said the museum.

The close study of the painting is part of an effort to create an online catalogue of the 104 French paintings and pastels at the museum.

— with files from Jenny Rodrigues