patteef

Patteef mixes fine arts with pop culture. All collages are made under 5 minutes, on an iPhone.

08/01/2026

Jeanne d’Arc
Albert Lynch

In his depiction of Jeanne d’Arc, Albert Lynch presents the saint not as a martyr in collapse, but as an image of resolve. Painted in the late nineteenth century, the work belongs to a period fascinated by medieval revival and national mythmaking. Joan appears upright, frontal, almost immobile — less a girl guided by visions than a symbol carefully constructed for endurance.

Lynch’s Joan is notable for her restraint. Clad in armour yet framed by lilies and a softly idealised landscape, she occupies a space between sanctity and discipline. The sword and banner are present, but their violence is subdued; what dominates is stillness, a controlled tension. Her gaze meets the viewer directly, asserting authority without theatrical gesture. This is heroism rendered calm.

In this collage, that historical image is split open and reactivated. The medieval saint is confronted with a contemporary body — tattooed, trained, self-possessed. Armour becomes muscle; faith becomes agency. Where Lynch monumentalised Joan to stabilise a national myth, the contemporary figure unsettles it, reintroducing vulnerability, choice, and lived physicality.

What emerges is not a contradiction but a continuation. Joan of Arc has always been an uncomfortable figure: a woman in armour, a body out of place, a belief system embodied too visibly. This collage restores that discomfort. It reminds us that sainthood, rebellion, and resistance all begin in the body — before they are frozen into history.

Model .brattt.12

06/01/2026

Study of Buttocks — Félix Vallotton, c. 1884

In Study of Buttocks, Félix Vallotton confronts the academic tradition at its most reduced and most charged. Executed early in his career, this work belongs to the discipline of life study: the human body isolated, cropped, and stripped of narrative, identity, or moral framing. Yet even at this stage, Vallotton’s gaze is anything but neutral.

The composition is radical in its proximity. By denying the viewer a face, a setting, or even a complete figure, Vallotton forces attention onto mass, weight, and surface. Flesh becomes landscape — a terrain of subtle tonal shifts, compressed volumes, and quiet tensions. The cool, muted palette resists erotic spectacle; instead, it insists on observation. This is not an idealised n**e but a body seen up close, unprotected, undeniably present.

What makes the study remarkable is its ambiguity. It oscillates between academic exercise and quiet provocation. In an era when the n**e was expected to flatter or allegorise, Vallotton’s framing feels almost confrontational, anticipating the blunt realism and psychological distance that would later define his mature work.

Here, the body is neither myth nor desire. It is matter. And in that refusal to soften or explain, Vallotton already signals a modern sensibility — one that understands looking as an act charged with power, restraint, and unease.

05/01/2026

🫦

04/01/2026

January 3, 1493.
Veneziola

⛓️

03/01/2026

The Immaculate Conception — Francisco de Zurbarán

In The Immaculate Conception, Francisco de Zurbarán distills one of the most contested doctrines of Catholic theology into a vision of absolute stillness and clarity. Painted in 17th-century Spain, at the height of Counter-Reformation fervour, the work functions as both image and argument: Mary is shown untouched by earthly corruption, elevated above the landscape, suspended between heaven and earth.

Zurbarán departs from narrative drama in favour of sculptural calm. The Virgin’s body is monumental, her gestures restrained, her gaze inward rather than ecstatic. Draped in the canonical blue and white, she appears less as a woman in motion than as an idea made visible — purity rendered in fabric and light. The surrounding clouds form a luminous halo, isolating her from the terrestrial world below, which recedes into symbolic insignificance.

What distinguishes Zurbarán’s treatment is its severity. Unlike the more theatrical interpretations of the theme by contemporaries such as Murillo, this Virgin does not overwhelm through sweetness or excess. Instead, she commands through silence. The painting reflects Zurbarán’s broader artistic language: austere, contemplative, and deeply rooted in monastic spirituality.

Here, the Immaculate Conception is not a miracle unfolding, but a condition already fulfilled — timeless, immovable, and beyond dispute.

Model

01/01/2026

😭MADONNA

30/12/2025

✨

Model

25/12/2025

An intriguing and beautifully executed full-body Irezumi tattoo on by 🐈‍⬛

23/12/2025

Bacchante — Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida

In Bacchante, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida turns to classical mythology not as an exercise in nostalgia, but as a pretext for studying light, flesh, and movement at their most unrestrained. The figure is loosely anchored in the Dionysian tradition — a follower of Bacchus, embodiment of ecstasy, excess, and liberation — yet Sorolla strips the theme of heavy symbolism. What remains is sensation.

The body is painted with remarkable immediacy: sun-warmed skin, vibrating brushstrokes, and a palette that dissolves contours into atmosphere. Rather than idealising the bacchante as a distant classical type, Sorolla brings her dangerously close to the viewer. She is neither allegory nor moral warning, but presence — alive, physical, and unapologetically sensual.

This work sits at an interesting crossroads in Sorolla’s oeuvre. Known primarily for his luminous beach scenes and portraits bathed in Mediterranean light, Bacchante reveals his sustained dialogue with tradition. Classical subject matter becomes a vehicle for modern painterly concerns: speed, spontaneity, and the fleeting nature of perception. Myth here is not revived; it is momentarily inhabited.

In Bacchante, antiquity is not reconstructed. It flickers — briefly — in sunlight, then disappears again.

Model

22/12/2025

🗡️

21/12/2025

problem child got Godsmacked

🦷 🥊

19/12/2025

As the year comes to an end, it feels right to look back for a moment. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about 2025.

With reach being heavily limited and inspiration almost nonexistent, we started by pointing people to the backup account. I went through a difficult period and needed some time to slow down and find my energy again. So in February, I quietly came back. We don’t quite find each other the way we did in the early years, and yet… I couldn’t stay away. I needed a place to put my creativity.

Sometimes it feels like everything has already been done, which makes originality harder to hold onto. But maybe that’s not always necessary.

So here’s a small selection of collages from the past twelve months.

It was also a year in which I saw some of you change. Where the comments used to be strikingly tolerant, I now notice more homophobia and transphobia. And lately, I seem to step on American toes more quickly when I post critically about their president. The world clearly feels more on edge than it used to be.

Curious to see what 2026 will bring.

Out of these 20, which one is your favorite?

Adres

Antwerp
2050

Website

https://www.instagram.com/patteef/

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