Bonjour, Mes Amis!

Hop on the Montmartre Saint Sulpice omnibus — we’re traveling back in time to Fabienne Delacroix’s enchanting world!

Upon first seeing Delacroix’s dreamy, romantic paintings, I was immediately captivated by their elegant beauty and distinctive charm. Who would not love lingering at a Parisian outdoor café, taking a midday promenade in the Jardins des Tuileries, or enjoying cancan at the Moulin Rouge?

Displaying a mastery of light and color reminiscent of the French Impressionists, Delacroix’s depictions of iconic city landmarks are set during France’s golden age, La Belle Époque. Dating from the late 19th century to the outbreak of WWI in 1914, this “beautiful era” was characterized by peace, optimism, economic prosperity, political stability and colonial expansion, in addition to technological, scientific, and cultural innovations.

Most notably, the arts flourished and numerous masterpieces of literature, music, theatre, and visual art gained extensive recognition. In her poetic, nostalgic paintings, Fabienne celebrates a time in history when life was sweet, the pace was slower, and people found joy in simple pleasures.

Paris-based Delacroix (b. 1972) comes from a family of artists. Her father is internationally renowned master naïf painter Michel Delacroix (b. 1933), a self-styled “painter of dreams and the poetic past,” who devoted five decades to painting his beloved “Paris of then,” the magical place where he grew up and found greatest inspiration.

It was in Michel’s studio that Fabienne was first exposed to art, and she couldn’t have asked for a finer tutelage. At age ten, she exhibited her first paintings at a gallery in Carmel, California, and the show completely sold out. In 1994, after earning a master’s degree in management, she decided to devote herself entirely to painting.

The publisher and art dealer Axelle Fine Arts (based in New York) started representing her exclusively and launched her career. Her original works then began to be exhibited in the largest American cities: Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and even New Orleans, as well as in Korea and Japan.

In 1996, after the success of her first three lithographs, a range of derivative products was launched: posters, serigraphs, pigment prints, calendars, and even postcards, all distributed in galleries during international fairs or on specialized sites. Her growing fame then led to numerous prestigious commissions, including being chosen as the official artist for the Special Olympics World Summer Games, for which she created three images for the event in North Carolina.

Fabienne actually first became known for her pastoral landscapes and seascapes, while her father was celebrated for his Parisian cityscapes. When he retired from painting in 2014, he passed his legacy on to Fabienne, who then expanded her content to include Paris city streets. Their work shares some stylistic elements — depicting old Paris with horse-driven carriages, etc. — but Fabienne paints with her own signature flair and has distinguished herself as a unique artist in her own right.

Though she also works in watercolor and gouache, she favors acrylic on wood board. Her pieces cover a wide range of subjects and emotions, from quiet domestic interiors, to convivial park scenes, to serene rainy days and luminous seascapes and harbors. Her night scenes showing streets glistening with rain are decidedly evocative, and she also excels at capturing the spirit of the changing seasons in a quieter, more quaint vision of the past. I especially love her “Four Seasons in Giverny” series.

I appreciate the serenity, joy, and playfulness of her pictures — seeing people strolling together, riding bicycles, picnicking, going for buggy rides, boating or chatting with friends is welcome respite from today’s too busy, often chaotic world. Her paintings also have a timeless quality about them.

Delacroix has had numerous successful exhibitions across the US and abroad. Her artwork is held privately and publicly, including within the permanent collections of the International Museum of Naive Art of Magog (Magog, Canada) and the Salon of Naive and Intuitive Art (Belogradchik, Bulgaria). Her art has also been licensed for wooden puzzles, umbrellas, home goods, and even candy bar wrappers.

For more, visit her Official Website. Art books and limited edition prints may be purchased via Hugo Galerie. For a selection of originals works for sale, visit Artsy.net. Latest updates at Fabienne’s Facebook Page and Instagram.

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