Artist Spotlight: Boissegur

Published by Charlotte Schelling on Jun 5, 2017 12:00:00 AM

Don’t let the bright, cheerful colours fool you… French artist Boissegur’s paintings are shrouded in mystery. Groups of balloons float around her eerily quiet compositions, and often a boy or a man in a straw hat, called “George” or a girl named “Clara”, appear in the picture. With an exhibition of her intriguing works happening both in her hometown of Paris, as well as at the Chetkin Gallery in New York later this year, we take a closer look at these surrealist-inspired pictures and the artist behind them.

“The hand creates what the soul reveals” – Boissegur

Baignade Interdite (Bathing Forbidden) (oil on canvas), Boissegur (Contemporary Artist) / Private Collection / © Beatrice Boissegur

George Paints (oil on canvas), Boissegur (Contemporary Artist) / Private Collection / © Beatrice Boissegur

Boissegur was born in Paris, but spent spent most of her life travelling and living in different regions in France, which profoundly influenced her work. Since attending art school in Caen, the artist has exhibited and sold works worldwide, including in the UK, the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and all of Europe. Her paintings are now part of many public and private collections, such as the French Senate and the Royal Palace of Belgium. Furthermore, her works have been used across a variety of different platforms including book covers, stamps for the French post, and even promotional material for the Olympics.

Palais du Luxembourg, 1998 (oil on canvas), Boissegur (Contemporary Artist) / Private Collection / © Beatrice Boissegur

With a career spanning over thirty years, Boissegur’s focus and style have shifted significantly since the artist first embarked on an artistic career in the 1980’s. From a strongly Surrealist first period (an influence which continued to inspire the artist throughout her career), Boissegur journeyed through an architectural phase, in which she painted several cities and their landmarks. Afterwards, Boissegur turned to a more abstracted reality, painting endless oceans and skies. Paintings in which, in the words of Franck de Lavareine, who has written about Boissegur, “the eye loses itself”. Much like the seemingly endless horizons in her pictures, the recurring themes in Boissegur’s paintings invite the viewer to contemplate. The bright balloons and children in the artist’s compositions are not only a whimsical note, but touch on personal themes such as childhood and family. The paintings also chronicle a lifetime of travels to different parts of the world, including the Middle East and Italy. Vibrant sunlight in shades of ochre and red gives her oeuvre a richness and warmth.