Séraphine Louis

At a time when the concept of ‘living’ is reviving memories of connections between nature, spirituality, and feminism, Séraphine Louis (1864-1942), known as Séraphine de Senlis, emerges as a figure who foreshadowed contemporary trends linking creation, care, and ecological concerns. Her flowers, trees, and fruits, painted with household pigments, bear witness to an organic and pragmatic relationship with her environment. Much more thana simple admiration for nature, her work transforms it into a subject of power, sublimation, and fervour. Séraphine de Senlis reveals the work of an extraordinary artist whose painting captures a realm beyond the tangible world.

Centre Pompidou-Metz is dedicating the first truly international retrospective of her work, bringing together an exceptional collection of her paintings. Their compositions, initially fragile and ethereal, gradually adopt a swirling movement that draws the eye into a profusion of forms and colours. Spiky leaves resembling feathers encrusted with strange eyes, twisting branches, and sparkling corollas dotted with a multitude of hypnotic dots seem to metamorphose under the influence of an inner energy, poised between obsession and wonder.