Pirotte Nathalie

I am a Belgian painter based in Brussels. My work explores identity through the human figure, particularly the female portrait, and its encounters with animal and plant life.

Faces become places of transformation. A mask, a flower, a fragment of fur or a spreading colour can interrupt familiar features, allowing another presence to emerge. From my earlier Effigies to my recent Metamorphoses, I explore the uncertain moment when a figure seems to become something else while remaining recognisably human.

Working mainly in oils, I build the image through fine layers, translucent glazes and more visible gestures. I am drawn to the tension between the precision of a face and the freedom of paint: a feature dissolves, a texture becomes skin, a painted mark suggests feathers or foliage. Transformation takes place as much in the material as in the subject.

Concealed eyes, mirrored figures and fragmented bodies recur throughout my work. They open questions about how we recognise a person and what escapes a likeness. Alongside these portraits, my paintings of hands approach identity through touch, gesture and traces of lived experience.

My paintings invite a sustained encounter. Sensuality, strangeness and occasional humour coexist, leavi...

ENSAV la Cambre, Brussels-
Parsons School of design NYC

Solo shows
1990 Détour gallery, Namur, (B)
Ixelles museum, Brussels, (B)
1991, 1994 et 1995 Caractères gallery, Brussels, (B)
1992 et 1993 Pascal Retelet gallery, Charleroi, (B)
1996 D. Lang gallery, Dudelange, (GDL)
UCL bank, Strassen, (GDL)
1999 Esch-sur-Alzette Theater, Dada-cave, (GDL)
2001 Galerie Espace Blanche, Brussels, (B)
2005 Iselp, Brussels, (B)
2007 Frank Gerlitzki, Espace Apart, Luxembourg, « Peaux et fourrures », (GDL)
2010 Die kunstgalerie, Köln, (D)
2011 Die Kunstgalerie, Köln, (D)
La galerie Libertine, Bruxelles, (B)
2012 Mellting art gallery, Lille, (F)
2014 Diekunstgalerie, köln, (D)
2020 Husk gallery, Brussels (B)
2023 Cultural Center Alter Schlachthof (B)
Mêmetés, husk gallery , Brussels
2024: solo show Husk gallery, Luxemburg Art week 2024
2026 : Corpographies , Husk gallery Brussels

recent groupshows

2020 : Tekenen in lockdown SMAK
Cueva Bat4 Esch-sur-Alzette, GDL

2021: Beyond the Bushes vol3, Galerie Emilie Dujat , Brussels (B)
Panta Rhei Husk Gallery , Brussels (B)

2022: Be free , Vulkan , Oslo

2023 : Group show , private view , with Emily Dujat gallery , Brussels ...