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First Butterflies
Artwork Viewer
Not on view
Thornton Dial watched the television in horror as the terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center unfolded on September 11, 2001. One in his series of works devoted to this tragedy, "First Butterflies" was inspired by news reports of monarch butterflies miraculously appearing amid the smoldering rubble. The work reflects the artist’s worldview regarding the eternal cycles of life, death, and rebirth: “Life go on for man in any time. . . . Cows, dirt, rocks, the whole world, all that stuff carry on life. . . . Old house got old tin fall off. . . .but it done did a many people some good before it fall. It can still do somebody some good. Old life . . . just make new life. That’s what recycle is all about. When God died he rose again.”
- Artist
- Thornton Dial
- Title
- First Butterflies
- Date
- 2002
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Clothing, plastic, carpet, oil, enamel, and spray paint on canvas on wood
- Dimensions
- 62 1/2 x 98 x 5 in. (158.8 x 248.9 x 12.7 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, American Art Trust Fund, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection
- Accession Number
- 2017.1.10