Seraphine louis biography of donald
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Art and Insanity: Séraphine Louis, Naïve Genius
Posted by ArtLark on December 11, 2021 in Art, Movies, Painting |
On the 11th of December 1942, a naïve painter, Séraphine Louis, also known as “Séraphine de Senlis“, died in a Villers-sous-Erquery hospital in northern France, although according to her mentor, Wilhelm Uhde, she died at Clermont’s lunatic asylum in 1934. It is questionable then whether Uhde wanted to withdraw from being associated with the mentally ill painter or he simply did it to round up the story of her life to a reasonably respectful ending.
Séraphine Luis was a poor and simple woman. Born in 1864 to a family of labourers, she was orphaned at the age of seven. She was then taken care of by her older sister and from early childhood worked as a shepherdess. Later on in her life she was employed as a servant to middle-class families in the town of Senlis. One of the households she worked in was that one of the German collector of primitive
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Oh Séraphine, this world was never meant for someone as beautiful as you
There is a line in Don McLean’s Vincent, the poignant människor song released in 1971, that always stuck with me. It goes, “but I could have told you, Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.” The bittersweet lyrics are a tribute to the great Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh of course, but when I became familiar with the story and work of Séraphine Louis for the first time, inom could only thing of those words: this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
The work she has left behind fryst vatten extraordinary; visionär and beautiful, but like Vincent, she also spent time in a mental asylum. She died friendless, alone and was buried in a common grave in either 1934, or was it 1942? No one can say for sure.
Born in 1864 in the small town of Senlis, France, she was a shepherdess, a housekeeper and did various other arduous jobs to make a living, but painted
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SÉRAPHINE LOUIS
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Lot 3234
SÉRAPHINE LOUIS
Le grand bouquet. 1927-30.
Ripolin on canvas.
Sold for CHF 100 340 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.
Lot 3234 - A189 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 28. June 2019, 05.00 PM
(Arsy 1864–1942 Clermont)
Le grand bouquet. 1927-30.
Ripolin on canvas.
Signed lower right: S. Louis.
80 x 60 cm.
We would like to thank Pierre Guénégan for confirming the authenticity of the work, May 2019. A certificate can be made on request.
Provenance:
- Familiy Uhde, Paris.
- Mme. Selz, Neuilly.
- Galerie Pro Arte Kasper, Morges.
- Private collection, Switzerland, bought 1988 at the ab