Emmanuelle Pellet - Vanité

Emmanuelle Pellet - Vanity
Acrylic painting on cardboard
H: 29.8 cm W: 21 cm
Unique piece, hand-painted, signed and numbered
The work has been published in a children's book, Le miroir de tes rêves, which is included with the shipment.

This work depicts a hybrid creature, half insect and half human, with translucent wings veined in night blue and a segmented amber-colored body. The face — juvenile, with immense blue-ringed eyes and an expression that is both anxious and ingenuous — emerges from an insect carapace studded with orange spines, creating a striking contrast between human vulnerability and entomological armor. The slender legs, ending in bright red shoes, rest on a dark structure evoking a planet, while in the background golden soap bubbles float in a milky sky.

At the crossroads of portrait and fantastical bestiary, this composition sits in a surrealist vein where anatomy is unsettled to question the boundary between the human and the animal, the familiar and the strange. The meticulous treatment of textures — veined wings, skin — contrasts with the dreamlike quality of the scene. The creature’s gaze, at eye level with the observer, establishes a troubling closeness that invites an interpretation that is both tender and disturbing.

About the artist:

Art historian by training, Emmanuelle Pellet studied at the École du Louvre and then at the Sorbonne, before being admitted to the Agrégation of visual arts (3rd rank). After several years of teaching, she joined the Louvre Museum as head of educational outreach. Her career today nourishes a personal body of work where mastery of painting engages with a deep culture of imagery and art history. Her creations have been exhibited in galleries in Paris, London, Singapore and Mauritius, and have been the subject of numerous publications. They are now included in private collections in Europe, North America, Asia and the Indian Ocean. Through each of her works, Emmanuelle Pellet seeks to create an intimate encounter with the viewer: an emotion that endures well beyond the first glance.