Charlotte Barrault
In this interview, Charlotte Barrault, talented Parisian painter, reveals the inspiration behind her captivating works, the challenges and rewards of her artistic path, and her vision for the future of her art. Her love for flowers and her experiences both as a doctor and mother have shaped her unique perspective and fueled her creativity. Discover her world of vibrant colors and profound emotions. An invitation to contemplate the beauty of nature, the power of art, and the transformative potential of self-discovery.
Hello Charlotte, how are you today?
Hello! I’m very well, thank you, and you?
What were you doing before answering our questions?
I was tidying up my blank canvases in the studio, thinking about future paintings after my last exhibition.
Could you tell us about yourself?
I’m 39, a painter and printmaker. I live in Paris near the Buttes Chaumont and have my studio in the Belleville district. I have two children, and I balance my artistic and maternal careers, one nourishing the other.
How and why did you go from being a doctor to a full-time artist?
It was a long journey. I started painting as a child, but I thought it would remain a hobby, and I wanted to study medicine, which I thought was my second calling. It was also more reassuring because it was a stable profession. At 17, I didn’t have the self-confidence to pursue a life as an artist.
My medical studies were difficult because I missed art so much and didn’t feel in the right place. Once I graduated, I met an artist who was decisive and opened a lot of doors for me. I got closer to painters whose work I admired and who taught me a lot. I took classes in drawing, life modeling, and painting... I wanted to catch up on the art school I hadn’t been able to do. At the same time, I was working as a substitute in general medicine offices, which left me time to follow all these courses.
This balance suited me until my first maternity leave, but the birth of my daughter in 2017 disrupted it. After months of intense reflection, I decided to completely stop my medical activity a year later. I felt suffocated in a doctor’s office and liberated in my studio. Meditation helped me a lot at that moment to stay in tune with my emotions.
Finally, between my first interrogations about my professional choice and this big decision, about fifteen years passed! But deep down, I knew for a long time that I wouldn’t be a doctor all my life.
Since when have you been into painting?
I think I was born with the desire to paint! I drew a lot as a child, and my parents enrolled me in an art workshop where I could start oil painting very early, around the age of 7-8, and it quickly became my favorite medium. I fell into it when I was little.
What materials do you usually use?
I usually paint with oil paints on linen canvases. I love the intensity of the pigments, the smoothness of the paint, and all the possibilities of expression and texture it offers; it’s almost sensual. The slow drying time allows me to prepare the colors and use them for several hours, but it’s also possible to add texture and play with transparencies after a few days of drying. You can do anything with oil paint!
What do you like about large-scale canvases?
I’m painting on larger and larger canvases because I love the feeling of freedom they give me. They allow for larger gestures and more letting go. By painting flowers on large formats, I can create the impression of a wide, almost explosive movement like a firework, but I can also change the scale and lose sight of the whole, so you don’t know if you’re outside or directly INSIDE the flowers. I love this feeling of immersion in the painting that only large formats offer, it allows you to observe the painting with your whole body.
Is there a specific message, story, or meaning behind your paintings?
Yes, so much! From the choice of subject to its composition, the handling of the paintbrush can also say a lot. My two main subjects are interior scenes and flowers, and both have a connection to meditation. Light and color are also frequent inspirations, as long as they evoke an emotion I want to convey.
When I started painting flowers, I would do their portraits on small formats with black backgrounds. Then I realized the connection between my meditation sessions and my paintings. A few specific examples: one painting represents the opening of the life source and belly chakras, in warm red and orange tones; I created a diptych last year titled “Joy” just before I knew I was pregnant; and recently I painted two large canvases on the theme of birth and the transfer of energy from mother to child during childbirth.
I love the symbolism that can be found in flowers, which have become allies for the expression of my emotions and even intimate events in my life. I offer my story, but everyone can find their own resonance or interpretation.
In interior scenes, I capture moments of grace with often a light that penetrates a room and gives a certain poetry to the moment. I evoke a window to nature and an undone bed or a chair to sit on. These compositions invite the contemplation of the beauty of the present moment.
Do you paint from your imagination or from real flowers?
For now, I always paint flowers that I’ve encountered and found so beautiful that I had to paint them almost irresistibly. When I can, I paint them directly from nature, but often I take photos after arranging them in a composition that I like or that evokes a message I want to convey. Often, I wait for them to open completely, or even to fade, because I find that they reveal a great beauty at that moment.
Maybe one day, I’ll paint flowers from my imagination and in a more abstract way?
Where do you find these rare flower species?
Four years ago, I started painting the flowers from my garden in Dordogne after the confinement. Now I plant and watch for my favorite flowers every season.
But as a Parisian, I look for nature wherever I can. I’m lucky to have met several florists in my neighborhood, including Ko Hana, who only offers beautiful, seasonal flowers produced in France. This commitment is very important to me. I regularly visit Keiko & Baudoin and visiting their shop is always an enchantment and a source of peace, everything there is inspiring!
I also always keep my eye out for flowers everywhere I go, in cities or in the countryside. I love large flower beds, and I’m even starting to do flower tourism (is that a thing?!) to discover private gardens.
If you had to name your favorite flower, which one would it be and why?
I love many flowers in every season, but the one I’ve attributed the greatest symbolism to is the poppy. It’s so beautiful, wrapped in its cocoon and then opening like crepe paper, until it unfolds completely with majesty. With its warm colors, it embodies for me intimate energy and the cycle of life. I’ve represented it in several paintings.
Could you tell us about Le Cercle de l’Art?
Le Cercle de l’Art is a collective of French-speaking female artists, about a hundred each year, who offer a portfolio of recent works at a fixed date. For one month, collectors can acquire a work by paying in installments over twelve months. This virtuous exchange allows for easier access to acquiring a work of art on the one hand, and on the other hand, supports the artist by providing a fixed monthly income for a year.
Beyond this concept, Le Cercle de l'Art offers artists courses by art professionals and residencies, as well as a network of mutual aid and support through meeting other artists.
I’ve been participating for three years and it has greatly structured my artistic life. Not being represented by a gallery, it has allowed me to have many rich encounters, as well as sales and income that I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.
Who inspires you the most?
Many artists inspire me, but the most present in my mind is Odilon Redon, a symbolist painter from the early 20th century whose paintings and drawings, rich in dreamlike imagery, colors, and symbols, bring together everything I love to find in a work of art. Among my favorite works are the very large decorative panels of yellow flowers that can be seen at the Musée d'Orsay; you can get completely lost in them in a meditative way!
I’m very attentive to the representations of flowers throughout the centuries and in more or less recent times. I look a lot at the work of Fantin Latour, Manet, Monet, Matisse, Vuillard (and his decorative panels too) and Georgia O’Keeffe for the very close-up framing of the heart of the flowers. For each of them, I observe the chosen composition and the environment in which they represent the flowers: in nature, in a vase, directly on a table... and especially at what scale.
Any updates that you would like to share?
In some of my latest paintings, I’ve chosen elongated vertical formats to experiment with decorative panel-type framing. I’d love to showcase my art differently, for decorations, collaborations with certain brands. A new step that I’m going to devote some research time to in the coming months!
Charlotte Barrault - @charlottebarrault
www.charlottebarrault.com
Pictures - Celest Leeuwenburg, Charlotte Mano, Camille Gressier & Charlotte Barrault