Seraphine Louis was born in Arsy, France in 1864 and died at the age of 78. She was a simple peasant woman who became an artist par excellence. I became fascinated by her depictions of floral arrangements described today as "naive painting." Her work is intense. Her portrayals show an artist consumed by that irrestible urge to create. Her work was discovered by pure coincidence. Wilhelm Uhde, a German art collector, was living in Senlis at the time. Invited to the home of one of the locals, Uhde noticed a small painting. Unknown to him, it was the work of his housekeeper. Seraphine found a patron. Their business relationship was short lived when war broke out between France and Germany. Uhde left Senlis urging Seraphine to continue painting. Thirteen years later, he returned to the town. True to her word, Seraphine created wonderful masterpieces working at night after laboring all day as a domestic, haunted by what the Russian painter Kandinsky describes as "the famous internal necessity to create." After a brief success, she had a complete nervous breakdown in 1932 and was institutionalized until her death. Her patron Uhde exhibited her work which eventually made their way to Paris. In 2009, a biographical film which bears her name was made by director Martin Provost. He won 7 major awards in France for Best Film and Best Actress, portrayed above by veteran actress Yolande Moreau. Seraphine's life is beautifully depicted as one completely devoted to the higher power of art. Her pious Catholic faith inspired these works, born out of pain and suffering. For her, in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, "everything was beautiful and therefore everything was good." If she had only concentrated on the pains of her arduous life; we would never have known her. That "internal necessity" gave the world beauty which the writer Rollo May describes as "that resplendent gown of God!" How fortunate we are!
trailer of the movie, "Seraphine" if interested.
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