“Elianto” is a word used to designate a species of plants including sunflowers and claims the subjects of the painting. Although the image dialogues with the seventeenth-century still-life tradition, it presents the opposite chromatic composition. If in the 17th paintings bright colored flowers emerge against a dark background, in this case, the background stands out for its light variations of pinks, while in the center the gaze is lost in a myriad of black-like colors: dark browns, deep greens and burnt purples. The title presents an oxymoron, connected to the topic of dualism treated by the artist: the sunflower, a symbol for light and sun, is painted withered, in black. The work was inspired by the exhibition “Africa & Byzantium” presented at The Met in New York: according to the artist, art is nothing but a small act of magic in which in order to better understand and know their contemporaneity, they produce spells, bewitch materials and invent new worlds.