Curly Dock with Metamorphoses of the Small Engrailed and the Blood-Vein after 1683

Maria Sibylla Merian rendered this study of a curly dock with watercolor to capture the metamorphosis of insects. The life cycle—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—resonates with the ancient symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. This emblem of cyclical renewal appears across cultures, from ancient Egypt to Norse mythology, embodying notions of eternity and rebirth. In alchemy, it represents transformation and the cyclical nature of life and death. The caterpillar itself, voracious and earthbound, symbolizes base matter, while the butterfly, freed from its earthly constraints, embodies the soul's ascent, an ancient visual metaphor for spiritual transformation. Merian’s moths connect the earthly and ethereal. These images tap into our collective unconscious, a place where primal symbols evoke potent feelings of mortality, hope, and the perpetual dance of existence. These themes echo in modern psychoanalysis, where transformation is central to individual and cultural memory. The Ouroboros, caterpillar and butterfly, each resurfaces in new forms, proving that history, like the natural world, follows its own path.