Grasshopper found in van Gogh painting at Kansas City museum

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A small grasshopper was found embedded in a Vincent van Gogh painting at a Kansas City museum.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art said the insect was stuck in the thick paint in the lower foreground of the artist's "Olive Trees."

Van Gogh was known for painting outdoors and mused in an 1885 letter to his brother, "I must have picked up a good hundred flies and more off the 4 canvases that you'll be getting."

Paintings conservator Mary Schafer discovered it while examining the painting under magnification.

The close study of the painting is part of an effort to create an online catalogue of the 104 French paintings and pastels at the museum.