HELENE DE TROIE
A “Titanesque” job… Find, in the face of Belle Hélène, a hundred of
characters from mythologies: Greek, Roman, Nordic, Celtic, Egyptian,
Chinese, Japanese, Aztec and Hindu.
about this artwork
A “Titanesque” job… In the face of Belle Hélène, mythical figure of the beautiful
there are about 100 characters from the great mytho-
world: greek, roman, nordic, celtic, egyptian, chinese, japanese,
aztec and Hindu. The portrait then becomes a rich fresco, where each trait
of the face reveals a scene, a god, a hero or a legend.
It includes Hades and Persephone, Ulysses, Narcissus, Minotaur and Theseus, the box of Pandora, Charon, the Danaides, Atlas, Eros, Athena, Medusa, Odin, Le
Phoenix, Apollo, Cupid, Zeus or Poseidon. These mythological figures come into
lacent with great precision, forming a human and divine mosaic that
literally poses the features of Helen.
In this work, the face is transformed into a universal mythological territory, where
founding stories of civilizations dialogue between them. The spectator is invited to a
double experience: a global, harmonious and striking vision of beauty, then a
careful and immersive exploration of details. Hélène de Troie becomes a
work of contemplation and discovery, celebrating the permanence of myths and
their timeless resonance in the collective imagination.
about this artist
Sylvaine Merlet’s painting is a crossing.
A dive into the visible and invisible layers of the world, where human, nature
and the imagination intertwined. His images are born of a need to hard what escapes
the words: the emotions buried, the collective memories, the silent bonds that unite the
beings.
The look is at the heart of his approach. It is threshold, passage, mirror. It’s through him that he’s
fragility, strength, doubt and hope prevail. The figures that she painted are not
not content to be seen: they look back, inviting the spectator to a meeting
Intimate, almost meditative.
Each canvas is built as a world to explore. Under the apparent unity arise
fragments, symbols, hidden narratives, like so many strata of thought.
The work reveals itself slowly, to the one who agrees to lose his stature,
let time do its work.
The colour is alive, vibrant, sometimes incandescent. She carries raw emotion, guides the
look and circulate energy. It is breath, impulse, inner movement.
Painting becomes an act of binding:
Connect the human to the living, the present to the ancient myths, the real to the imaginary.
In a fragmented world, Sylvaine Merlet’s painting opens one. Resonance space,
of contemplation and dream where everyone can find a forgotten part of himself.
