Thursday, January 27, 2011

Love, Joy and Tragedy : Séraphine Louis de Senlis

The story is about Séraphine Louis, a housekeeper working in Senlis, France in the early 1900's.  Her days were consumed by hard and tedious work as a housekeeper and at night she would paint by candlelight, which was her love and passion.  She spent every free moment doing what she truly loved.  She was self-taught and created her own paints with secret ingredients, which to this day have maintained their original brilliance, as seen in her paintings.  

While staying at one of the homes she worked at, Séraphine's paintings were discovered  by Wilhem Unde, a German art collector.  Their collaboration was short lived due to the war between France and Germany in 1914, when Wilhem had to leave France.  

In the late 1920's, although Wilhem thought that Séraphine had died during the war, he decided to go back to Senlis and did indeed find her again.  During his absence she continued to paint and her newest work was being displayed in a town exhibit for local artists. 

The story continues on through her death.  Her life was full of love, joy and tragedy.  Love and joy when she was painting, as she would also sing joyous hymns while she created her art.  While I was was watching, I felt that she was in the presence of God and the angels themselves, truly Divine.   Tragedy, yes sadly in life there is tragedy.  In the end her tragedy was created because she couldn't paint any longer, whether imposed by others or Séraphine herself.     

Seraphine
Her paintings can now be found in museums in Paris, Nice, Senlis and Villeneuve d'Ascq.  The movie Séraphine was directed by Martin Provost in 2008.  I really enjoyed the movie, it is in French with subtitles.  If you don't mind that, you will love it too!



Despite work and other daily obligations how many minutes in a day do we actually use to do what we love?  What is our excuse?

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19 comments:

  1. Added that to my queue! Thanks for visiting my blog :) I'm now following you, too.

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  2. Sounds like a great movie! I love foreign films.

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  3. Hi Libby! It seems that we have been having the same taste in Netflix movies!! I ran out of the Italian now going to French!

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  4. Hi Brea, I think you will like it!

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  5. Carmie! Me too! Hope you enjoy it! Thank you all for stopping by!

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  6. I spend way too much time on the computer when I could be doing other things. I too enjoy painting and crafting but don't do it because of wasting my time on the computer. Things have already started to change in that respect and I hope to be more creative soon. This post will help me accelerate the progress.

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  7. wow! that's very interesting..

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  8. Hi Lisa,
    Stopping by to say hello from Spotlight Saturday.
    I hope your having a great weekend

    Stacy
    www.sjunkie.com

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  9. Yes, Sunny I know what you mean! I could waste an entire day on the computer!! Hope all is well. Lisa

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  10. Hi Kim, Thanks for stopping by! Lisa

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  11. Hi Stacy, Thanks for popping in to say hello! Lisa

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  12. Thank you for sharing Seraphine's story and the movie trailer. I would love to see this one... I really enjoy learning about the true life stories of those such as Seraphine...who are able to create such beauty despite the challenges such as what she had faced.

    Blessings & Aloha!
    Thank you also for your lovely visit. Please do come back again anytime :o)

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  13. oops! Thank you for following! I am following you at #248!

    Blessings & Aloha!

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  14. Hi Lisa,

    Thanks so much for stopping by and joining in my blog. Will be back to explore more...

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  15. Hi PSS! Thank you for stopping in to say hello. Love your sketches. Lisa

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  16. Thank you Treat and Trick! See you soon! Lisa

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  17. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I came over and returned the favor and now following thru GFC, Networked Blogs, Facebook and Twitter. What cute little girls you have! They grow up so fast. Mine is grown and on her own and it just seems like yesterday. Have a great week!

    Mary@http://mmbearcupoftea.blogspot.com

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  18. Thank you so much Mary!!You were busy!! ~Lisa

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Not what we give,
But what we share,
For the gift
without the giver
Is bare.
~James Russell Lowell

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