Claire Basler (Libra, 1960) is French contemporary artist, known for her large-scale, ephemeral flower paintings. She lives and works in a 15th century French château, surrounded by ancient forests and gardens on the outside and walls of flowers on the interior. Welcome to the enchanting lifestyle of a flower painter.
“A painting is a fragment of the world. If one cannot embrace the whole world, at least it is possible to savor brief glimpses of it and capture moments of dazzling intensity. ”
– Claire Basler
Developing Her Signature Style
Claire Basler’s artistic journey began as a young child. Her father was a French modernist architect with impeccable taste and the ability to nurture the artistic sense in his children. He had a passion for wildflowers, and taught Claire how to really see them. The influence of his teachings on her artwork, her home’s interiors and her outlook has been lifelong.
At 15 she left school to study painting at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts. Conceptual art was taking the French art world by storm, and Basler was not interested in being influenced by convention. So, she dropped out of school after the first year to forge her own path, spending her days at the Louvre studying the 17th and 18th century masters – Watteau, Vouet, Chardin, Ingres, Caravaggio, and Paolo Uccello.
“All by myself, I studied the technique, how the soul of the painter comes through the paintbrush.”
-Clair Basler
Flower Paintings
She has spend the past forty years developing her signature style of flower painting. They transcend the existing flower painting genre, blending floral still lifes, French impressionist landscapes, botanical illustration to create something totally fresh. Her work has a quality of being completely natural, yet otherworldly. Inviting the viewer to step into the eternal spirit of the land, through her ephemeral florals.
It all starts with the backgrounds, that come to life by building up layers of color in cloud-like formations, focusing on light and atmosphere. She believes the rest of the painting is carried on the quality of the background. Then, working in creamy yellows, violets, petal reds, sky blues and sap greens, an array of flora unfurls in energetic, intuitive brushwork.
Château Art Studio
She works surrounded by leaves, stems, and large branches in various stages of life. You can sense that her work is based on “real” subjects, because her paintings exude the same quality of aliveness and movement. There is no attempt at perfection, and no separation between the artist, her lifestyle, and her work. It all blends together harmoniously. Claire has created a world, and her work naturally comes alive within it.
“Nature is so full of life, it is intelligent, a close companion. It is stable and strong yet vulnerable, which teaches the concept of patience. In short, it is an artist!”
-Claire Basler
In addition to her raw talent, Basler’s aesthetic taste and eye for composition is masterful. Her use of open space is reminiscent of the delicate art of Japanese “byobu” screen painting. The result is a truly fresh and modern take on what it means to be a flower artist.
Watch Claire Basler paint a gorgeous meadow. Her intuitive way of painting is simply breath-taking.
