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Moths in art history: centuries of creativity…

Politics · October 26, 2026 · The Conversation · 5 min

Moths are much less weird and way more wonderful than most people think.

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <figure> <img alt="Painting of a moth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762108/original/file-20260924-50-tfftx4.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&rect=262%2C0%2C1475%2C830&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" /> <figcaption> Two Moths, Two Chyrsalides, and Other Insects by Joris Hoefnagel (1575-1580). <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/two-moths-chyrsalides-other-insects-15751580-2524377665?trackingId=4a3985bd-9317-4475-a137-7e69158cfedb&listId=searchResults">Rawpixel/Shutterstock/Canva</a> </figcaption> </figure>

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/samuel-shaw-1419817">Samuel Shaw</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-open-university-748">The Open University</a>

Moths seem to be made for Halloween. They’re largely nocturnal, often outlandish in appearance and bear creepy names such as Lunar Thorn, Cloaked Carpet, Bordered Gothic and (best of all) Puss Moth.

The webs of the <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/dont-worry-about-ermine-webs">ermine moth caterpillar</a> cover trees like ghostly shrouds, while the hairy <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/caterpillars-11771">caterpillars</a> of the <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/oak-processionary-moth-thaumetopoea-processionea/">oak processionary moth</a> release <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-moth-lover-but-londons-toxic-caterpillars-worry-even-me-95886">rash-inducing toxins</a>.

Spookiest of all is the <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/deaths-head-hawk-moth">Death’s-head Hawk-moth</a>, which bears a skull-like mark on its thorax and can squeak like a mouse. This is the moth that appears, albeit in altered form, on the poster for the film <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-silence-of-the-lambs-introduced-the-world-to-forensic-entomology-but-how-much-has-the-science-changed-since-283243">The Silence of the Lambs</a> (1991).

Two historical prints held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam speak to the long-held suspicion of moths within European society. In one work by the printmaker C. Galle, <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Jacht-op-nachtvlinders--df063972b0590b4dd01b4a6157f44fb5?tab=data">a group sets out with lamps to destroy moths</a> before they can eat the crops (or produce caterpillars that do). In another, by Jan Luyken, women inspect <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Vrouwen-onderzoeken-hun-lakens-op-motgaten--330fff71ede5b26d19874cfa3e4e38de?tab=data">the holes that moths have made in fabric</a>. The Old English origins of the word “moth” denote a primarily destructive, parasitical creature.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drawing showing several men beating bushes with branches to flush out moths." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762100/original/file-20260924-50-8iv03c.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> Hunting for Moths by C. Galle (1594). <a class="source" href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Jacht-op-nachtvlinders--df063972b0590b4dd01b4a6157f44fb5?tab=data">Rijksmuseum</a> </figcaption> </figure>

<h2>Meeting with moths</h2>

Unlike butterflies (who doesn’t like butterflies?) humans have always found moths hard to love. I certainly didn’t give moths much consideration until this year, when I started researching representations of moths and spending time with the moths themselves. I’ve since become something of a moth evangelist.

From March of this year my son and I set up a <a href="https://www.nhbs.com/blog/the-nhbs-guide-to-moth-traps?srsltid=AU7gw4WG3mmAi_rcJkd-G5MHnv4egImELjBBDpm1R5EOHCbHCFlyNEF_">Skinner moth trap</a> in our small suburban garden in Leicester, rising early every morning to identify the moths that visited during the night. My expectations were low, especially in the first few weeks, when we caught little. But then May and June came, and every morning brought new gifts. My son took charge of the counting and by September we had identified a hundred different species.

If you think moths are all small, brown creatures, think again. Even in the UK, and despite <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/why-moths-matter/moths-in-decline">their rapidly decreasing numbers</a>, moths are astonishingly diverse and outstandingly beautiful, ranging widely in size, colour and temperament. Some of them – most famously, the luminously pink and green <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/moths/elephant-hawk-moth">Elephant Hawk-moth</a> – are disarmingly cute and docile and will happily sit on your hand.

<h2>The art of moths</h2>

The magic of moths has attracted artists for centuries. A good place to start is the Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1601), whose delicate watercolour sketches of moths remain astonishingly lifelike. I especially like <a href="https://www.nga.gov/artworks/69685-plate-23-hummingbird-hawk-moth-butterflies-and-other-insects-around-snowberry-sprig">his depiction</a> of the furry <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/humming-bird-hawk-moth">Hummingbird Hawk-moth</a>: one of a few day-flying moths and one of a few species <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvzez0lpnn3go">benefiting from recent rises in temperature</a>.

Even more astonishing is the work of the pioneering German naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), who published three books detailing the metamorphosis of butterflies and moths (or what she called “summer-birds” and “moth-birds”). Merian’s elegantly composed images were the first to situate moths within their wider environment, identifying which species preferred which plants.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of a moth flying towards a leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/762102/original/file-20260924-60-4ok4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> Metamorphosis of a Small Emperor Moth on a Damson Plum by Maria Sibylla Merian. <a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/profzucker/">Smarthistory/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> </figcaption> </figure>

Outside of the world of natural history, moths have tended to be given a marginal role. However, some artists have been as drawn to moths as moths are drawn to light. In 1959, for example, the Scottish artist John Maxwell (1905-1962) painted a series of colourful, abstracted moth paintings, including <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/night-flowers-200732/search/actor:maxwell-john-19051962/page/2/view_as/grid">Night Flowers</a> and <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/garden-at-night-moth-93556/search/actor:maxwell-john-19051962/page/1/view_as/grid">Garden at Night (Moth)</a>.

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