The Butterflies

In “The Butterflies” (1878), Émile Reynaud breathed vivacity into a scene that his contemporaries would have chosen to give a still-life treatment. The insects play a colourful dance around a vibrating flower, thereby celebrating the wonder of living nature. The simplicity of the setting enhanced the focus on motion, allowing the animated images to dare a likeness to real life. This interplay between reality and imagination found its natural home in the realm of animation, thus breaking free of the constraint of intimation found in painting, where such interplay could only be suggested. In the late 1870s, moving images, especially those drawn by Reynaud, began to change the relationship that viewers have with the work of visual art.