Fish are some of the earliest beings to have populated the earth. Similarly, other primordial forms have become subjects in the work of Monica De Mattei, in response to a stimulus for painting images dictated by emotions. Here the artist’s tonal abstractism is a symbol of emotional transformation and, as such, is reminiscent of the shape of a butterfly, the origin of Monica’s inspiration, before the evolution towards the fish. In these works, the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly which spreads its wings, bearing and opening out onto Monica’s artistic soul, ready to take to the sky.Similarly to fish painted by the artist, here too we have an apparent symmetry, an expression of a search for balance, which is attenuated by the study of colour juxtapositions, warding off any kind of geometrization and leading towards the creation of a fluid, almost visceral dynamism, which is the very symbol of transformation itself. Faced with an unexpected white background, as though in front of a mirror – an element which is also an insert in a few other works by Monica – , the artist reflects herself in this work, transforming the sensations of her spirit into forms and colour.