Luc Tuymans 's Superstition (2005) is a limited edition screenprint based on his oil painting of the same title executed in 1994, a pivotal year in the artist's career. The fine art print presents a stark, enlarged insect rendered in dark, reduced tones, confronting the viewer with a sense of unease and psychological tension that is central to Tuymans's practice. The original painting was first shown in Tuymans's landmark exhibition Superstition at Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, in August 1994, a presentation that helped establish his international reputation and articulated many of the conceptual and psychological concerns that would define his work. Later that year, the painting was exhibited at David Zwirner, New York, further introducing Tuymans's imagery to an international audience. By deliberately flattening form and suppressing aesthetic refinement, Luc Tuymans shifts attention away from visual seduction toward meaning and interpretation. The insect functions as a charged metaphor for fear, anonymity, and transgression, drawing the viewer into an ambiguous space between fascination and repulsion. In 2004, Superstition was included in Tuymans's major mid-career retrospective at Tate Modern , London, where it was positioned as a key work within his ongoing investigation of memory, perception, and the psychological power of images. “Tuymans has described Superstition as a painting about art and transgression. He has said that he often makes his paintings appear clumsy, and ‘deprived of aesthetics’ so that there is more focus on meaning: ‘Superstition could be a nom de plume for art. Art that transgresses, that transmits. The insect in Superstition sucks you in. It’s almost shamanistic.’” – Tate Modern, 2004.