Bombus terrestris worker bee on a copy of Sunflowers (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), National Gallery, London

Copy by J. Walker (acrylic on canvas-board 45.5 x 35.5cm).

A sci-art collaboration exploring bees' reactions to paintings of flowers  

“And other eyes than ours

Were made to look on flowers...”

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894 (From the poem: To what purpose this waste )

“Where the bee sucks, there suck I …”

William Shakespeare 1564–1616 (From: The Tempest )

Do bees like Van Gogh?

Lars Chittka * & Julian Walker

Biological Sciences, Queen Mary College, University of London,

Mile End Road, London E1 4NS

Flower colours have evolved over 100 million years to address the colour vision of their bee pollinators. In a much more rapid process, cultural (and horticultural) evolution has produced images of flowers that stimulate aesthetic responses in human observers. The colour vision and analysis of visual patterns differ in several respects between humans and bees. Here, a behavioural ecologist and an installation artist present bumblebees with reproductions of paintings highly appreciated in Western society, such as Van Gogh's Sunflowers . We use this unconventional approach in the hope to raise awareness for between-species differences in visual perception, and to provoke thinking about the implications of biology in human aesthetics and the relationship between object representation and its biological connotations.

Email: l.chittka@qmul.ac.uk

Left Bombus terrestris worker exploring poster of Pottery (1969) Patrick Caulfield (b. 1936); oil on canvas 213.4 x 152.4 cm. Tate Gallery, London; full image below.  

Centre A North American Bombus impatiens worker probing a high contrast edge in a copy of Sunflowers (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), National Gallery, London . Copy by J. Walker (acrylic on canvas-board 45.5 x 35.5cm).

Right Bombus terrestris exploring poster of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) A Vase of Flowers 1896; oil on canvas 64 x 74cm (Copyright: The National Gallery, London).

Naive Bombus terrestris bees (i.e. bees that have never seen flowers) exploring a copy of Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888). View movie clip (mpeg format)

Bees ( Bombus terrestris) landing on a copy of Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888) to which sucrose drops have been added. View movie clip (mpeg format)

Pottery (1969) Patrick Caulfield (b. 1936); oil on canvas 213.4 x 152.4 cm. Presented by Mrs H K Morton through the Contemporary Art Society; Tate Gallery, London; Copyright: Patrick Caulfied 2004. All rights reserved, DACS, London ).   Poster available in Tate Modern shop.