Rita, 2025

Isabelle De Sereville  

Passionate about the visual arts since childhood, I always had a studio in the family home. I followed art education until my baccalaureate.

Studies at a business school, a few years in marketing for a large cosmetics group, did not distract me from this passion.

Before I turned 30, I returned to painting permanently and full-time.

Years spent in various artists' and teachers' studios, figurative or abstract, classical or contemporary, gave me the technical training I needed.

Even today, I regularly work with other artists in studios or on joint projects.

Over time, I have developed two lines of work. One is abstract. The other is resolutely figurative. These two techniques allow me to approach the themes that are dear to me in different ways.

The series "Les Baigneuses de Biarritz", which began six years ago, deals with transmission and the passing of generations.

A photo of my grandmother, on the Grande Plage in Biarritz in 1930, was the starting point for these paintings.

Who are these bathers with their wise or mischievous looks, their bright or melancholic smiles, their determined or dreamy looks? My grandmother or my daughter, a friend, a stranger, myself? Probably all of them at once....

The reference points are deliberately blurred: a 1930s beanie with modern sunglasses, a vintage surfboard with a modern swimsuit. This helps avoid dating the moment, as that's not really the subject.

With this series, I hope to give a strong, positive and caring image of women.