"BUTTERFLY"

Medium: Pantone Letraset markers on marker paper, A4 size
Available: Limited reproductions on fine art paper

A radiant butterfly unfolds into a symphony of color and symbolism. Elkolor (Raphaël Pathé) merges his lifelong fascination with butterflies and human perception, inviting viewers to see transformation, sensuality, and rebirth. Some interpret the composition as echoing Courbet’s Origin of the World, revealing how nature and humanity often mirror each other.

Butterfly celebrates the artist’s deep attraction to butterflies—creatures of transformation, fragility, and stunning chromatic beauty. Their symmetry, delicacy, and vibrant wings have long inspired his work, and here they become a portal to both the natural and the symbolic. The butterfly form expands into swirling colors and organic shapes, radiating vitality and metamorphosis.
Many viewers instinctively associate the central form with female anatomy, evoking Gustave Courbet’s Origin of the World. This dual reading—innocent nature on one side, sensual human symbolism on the other—reveals how color, form, and biology intertwine. The artwork thrives in this ambiguity. It is at once a butterfly, a womb, a flower, a doorway, and a visceral reminder of life’s origins.

The piece ultimately speaks to transformation: how beauty emerges from tension, how identity evolves, and how vibrant color can express emotions words cannot.

Back to the collection