Butterfly Time - Pre-Spring, 1945

Charcoal and pastel on paper
42 x 58 cm
16 9/16 x 22 13/16 inches
Signed lower right "Toyen 45" Signed and dedicated lower left "Eva Ebertová Toyen 29.11.46"
During the war, Toyen painted very little, limiting herself to making a series of very disturbing drawings around the horrors of the Second World War. Butterfly Time - Pre-Spring (1945) is a study for L’Avant-printemps (1945), held in the collection of the Centre Pompidou. Both the painting and the drawing were made at the end of the conflict, and depict the destruciton of Europe and at the same time the hope of a reawakening. The tombs, made of small piles of stones which line up as far as the eye can see, are set in a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. However, butterflies browse the graves. They are the single sign of life in a desolated universe that announces renewal. On the one hand, a symbol of the eternal souls of the soldiers died in battle, and on the other a symbol of the expected arrival of a post-war spring for Europe. Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery.