Odile Schwilgue

Art Brokerage: Odile Schwilgue French Artist: Odile de Schwilgue, was born in Alsace, spending the first sixteen years of her life in a small town near Strasbourg. "She did not become a painter by chance." At the insistence of her art teacher, and despite her youth, she took an entrance examination at the "Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg". and was one of the top ten entrants. During five years of training, and thanks to the teachings of Alsatian artists, she affirmed her talent and her personality as a painter. Diploma in hand, she left for Paris. There, she joined a group of painters "Figurations critiques" who exhibited regularly at the Grand Palais. To live from her art, she drew "portraits at Montmartre". This departure, prompted by sentimental reasons as well as a need for independence, led to a painting style that was more assertive and powerful. A few years later, it was the lure of nature, sunlight and escape that pushed her towards new horizons, far from Paris. Crossing the Atlantic in a yacht, navigating down the Amazonian rivers, and visiting Mexico and its Aztec temples, she produced artworks of sensual orchids, marked contrasts, and women clad in Mayan low reliefs. Four years later, wanting to be known through her paintings, she dropped her sailor's bag in Antibes on the French Riviera where she has had her studio for several years.