Butterfly: Exploring the World of Lepidoptera

Author: Phaidon Editors

Format: Hardcover | 312 pages

Dimensions: 26.16 x 3.49 x 30.23 cm

Publication date: 10 Oct. 2025

An expansive and awe-inspiring visual survey celebrating the stunning beauty of butterflies and moths across art, history, science, and culture

‘Tap[s] into the myriad ways in which these marvelous bugs pollinate not only our fragile ecosystems but our imaginations, too.’ –   Colossal

A BEST ART BOOK OF THE YEAR:   Christian Science Monitor

Butterflies have enchanted people for thousands of years, capturing human imagination for so long that they are deeply entwined in our culture and history. Butterfly: Exploring the World of Lepidoptera delves into this enduring love for butterflies, moths, and caterpillars, taking readers on a journey across continents and cultures to discover the endless ways artists and image-makers throughout history, from ancient Egypt over 4,000 years ago to the present day, have been inspired by these ethereal insects.

Featuring more than 250 entries, each represented with a gorgeous large-scale image, this expansive visual survey spans a wide range of styles and media, including paintings, botanical illustrations, sculptures, nature photography, children’s books, textiles, and jewelry.

Cleverly paired to highlight thought-provoking contrasts and similarities between them, regardless of the time period, the images showcase butterflies and moths – from the blue morpho and monarch to the death’s-head hawkmoth – in all stages of their life cycles.

The vibrant colors in Eric Carle’s childhood classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar complement the playfulness of a butterfly-filled collage by British Pop Artist Peter Blake, while the shape of the goddess Obsidian Butterfly, carved into stone in fourteenth-century Mexico, matches perfectly that of a falling moth, captured in a beautiful black and white photograph by Japanese artist Chuji Yasui.