My life's work
Professional paintor since 1998
A whole life devoted to painting
Since 1998, I have made a rare and daring choice: to live exclusively from my art.
No other job, no safety net — just my painting and everything it has allowed me to create: exhibitions, workshops, videoconference courses, conferences, publications...
Almost three decades of passion, travel, encounters, and a career that has taken me from small local exhibitions to the biggest international galleries and salons.
A life's word - Focus on my career
And still the same FLAME
A young student at the School of Fine Arts in Villeneuve sur Lot from the age of 7, then Toulouse several years later, and after various painting and sculpture courses with artists from different backgrounds, my artistic style gradually took shape, opening the doors to a beautiful story of Art’mour…
An artist’s career is above all a journey, a path strewn with encounters, exhibitions and memorable moments that shape one’s personal and artistic history. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with numerous galleries throughout France, as well as in all corners of the globe, which have been the unwavering witnesses of a journey so rich in memories…
From Paris to Colmar, Lille to Annecy, Quimper to Orléans, Bordeaux to Toulouse, Marseille to Valence, Agen to Limoges, via Oléron, La Rochelle, Île de Ré, Clermont-Ferrand, Avranches, Auvillar, and so many others… as well as more distant locations such as international galleries in Japan, Korea, the United States, Canada, Europe, Switzerland…
…and the privilege of having been a guest of honour at numerous art fairs, as well as a speaker on the life of a painter…
Over time, my work has found its place in more than 200 solo and group exhibitions, and my works have resonated in the hearts of enthusiasts and collectors from all walks of life and all nationalities who have acquired them…
Not to mention major exhibitions at the Grand Palais in Paris, the Louvre, the famous Palais del Recinto in Barcelona, and the Shanghai World Expo, unforgettable moments that have marked this artistic adventure…
EXHIBITIONS - EVENTS - ROUTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY / PRESS - SELECTION
• Publications
Corinne Vilcaz, 25 Years of Creation, collector’s edition with a preface by Francis Cabrel, Éditions Le Livre d’Art, Paris, 2023
Vilcaz, or the Credo of Colours, Éditions Le Livre d’Art, Paris, 2012
1st Artist Catalogue, 2010
• Television & Audiovisual Media
TV7 reports for France 3 (Bivouaq’ 2021)
Art’Boressence report or the Extraordinary World of Corinne Vilcaz (Figurative scenographic installation with plants). 2022
Les Savoir-faire en Aquitaine France 3 (2015)
Whisper Video report (USA): 2012
Aquitaine TV report (2012)
Interviews and profiles: Radio REM 2025, Radio RVB: Les coulisses de l’art (Behind the Scenes of Art) (2013), and many others…
Film interview for the Galerie Couleurs de l’Éternité Toulouse (2011)
• Press & Magazines
Feature article ‘Talented Women’ Sud Ouest Toulouse 2023
Regular publications in L’Univers des Arts, Art Actualités Magazine, Pratique des Arts, Plaisir de peindre since 2002
Articles in Terre d’Art. Editions Sud Garonne (2010)
Numerous articles and portraits in the regional and specialist press in France and internationally
• Recognition & Distinctions
Member of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts de Paris
Medal recipient from the Académie Arts-Sciences et Lettres de France
Guest of honour and featured in L’Univers des Arts for the Festival of French Art in Japan (2013)
And many other distinctions, first prizes in art, medals, etc.
A line of artists: The late Louis Garin (1888–1959), a famous Breton painter, now listed and exhibited at the Pont-Aven Museum, is said to be from the same distant lineage as my maternal ancestors…
AMAZING ENCOUNTERS
“Memorable encounters with people from all walks of life and backgrounds, including art lovers, gallery owners from the world’s leading art centres, influential statesmen and decision-makers, enthusiastic and passionate visitors, renowned artists, emerging artists and thousands of students during my courses and workshops. “
And without all those who have followed, encouraged and accompanied me over the years, allowing us to form a unique and loyal bond, nourished by constant exchanges, this career would never have been possible…it is you who have carried me, and the universe has allowed me to achieve it…
25TH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL
A 25-year career. A look back at an exceptional year, punctuated by exhibitions, encounters and unforgettable events.
UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS
✨ Official declaration as a professional painter in 1998.
✨ First international exhibition: United States, 2005.
✨ Carrousel du Louvre – Paris. Salon National des Beaux Arts 2010: Exhibition and meeting with the President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, during the official opening: a moment out of time…
✨ Shanghai World Expo 2010
Selected to represent French art at a global event.
✨ First official listing by Akoun in 2011, and Drouot the same year. A few years later, listings by I-Cac and Artprice followed.
✨ Art Critic, by Jean-Charles Baitinger. Renowned historian and art critic. 2012
“Corinne Vilcaz’s work could be described as a celebration of the secret harmonics that govern matter (…) Above all, she seeks to liberate figuration from its sensory attachments, in order to better rediscover, in a simple bouquet, the traces of a presence, a substance, a Being itself… Corinne Vilcaz’s work is to abstract painting what scenes of the Annunciation were to Renaissance perspective painting: an attempt to give substance (…) to a material that has become lyrical.”
✨ Grand Palais – Paris Salon Art en Capital 2012
The thrill of exhibiting under its legendary glass roof… and the decisive encounter with a Japanese gallery owner who opened the doors to Japan for me, where I still exhibit today.
✨ First exhibition in Japan: 2012
✨First recognition: artist’s book, ‘Vilcaz, ou le crédo des couleurs’ (2012), published by Le Livre d’Art, Paris.
✨Guest of honour: Villeneuve sur Lot Book Fair 2012. Musée de Gajac (exhibition and first artist’s book)
✨ First gallery exhibition in Paris: Galerie Ces’Art 2013
✨ Exhibition at the Salon des Créateurs et Métiers d’Art de France. Bordeaux 2014
✨ First exhibition in Korea: 2015
✨ Guest of honour: Carte blanche to Corinne Vilcaz. First figurative scenographic plant installation in France. Boé 2022
✨ Grand National Art Game ‘Art’niversaire Vilcaz’ 25 years of creation 2023
✨ Firmin Bouisset Museum at the Maison d’Espagne – Castelsarrasin 2023
Solo exhibition where the mayor will declare, with great emotion:
‘You have honoured us by coming to celebrate your 25-year career at our Firmin-Bouisset Museum…which places you among the ranks of this famous artist, and believe me, you richly deserve it!’— a rare honour for a living artist
✨ Collector’s book with a preface by Francis Cabrel
Published in 2023 to celebrate my 25-year career, this book represents a milestone in a quarter-century of creativity, and it is a tremendous honour to have the preface written by the renowned author, composer and performer Francis Cabrel.
Éditions Paris 2023
The school of life...Transmutation
The Great Work...
The alchemy of transformation
At first, my paintings were constructed using bold colours: reds, blacks, greys and yellows, arranged in strict squares and rectangles. Even my flowers became geometric bouquets. Each composition had its own rigour, rhythm and unique signature.
For a long time, I was compared to Nicolas de Staël, and today I see this parallel as an echo of my own journey.
Like De Staël, my journey has been constructed “in reverse”: not by leaving figurative art for abstraction, as many painters have done, but by starting from a rigorous geometric composition and moving towards a more embodied painting, nourished by reality and sublimated by the imagination.
But over time, these squares seemed too restrictive to me. I felt like I was ‘going round in circles in my squares…’
The angles softened, the shapes opened up and left more room for subjects, light and life.
It was as if the black outlines were reversing to white, from the centre to the edges. My colours began to blend and nuance, letting in blues, greens, then white, while the transformation of my personal life was reflected in my paintings.
Thanks to the Masters
My gaze, once turned towards an abstraction almost detached from reality, has become anchored in life and nature. I have come to understand that the Earth, in its simple and infinite beauty, already offers an inexhaustible source of inspiration. And even though I still invent my horizons, each canvas always starts from an inner truth, an intimate connection with my surroundings.
Throughout this journey, certain masters have accompanied me, silently and powerfully. Gustav Klimt taught me the richness of patterns and the sensuality of gilding, William Turner the magic of light and infinite atmospheres, and Nicolas De Staël the intimate dialogue between geometric rigour and poetic freedom.
Each influence has nourished my painting, but it is always my inner voice, my intuition and my spiritual sensitivity that dictate my choices.
The work, intellectual property
Inner transformations
Every stage of my life, every inner transformation, every spiritual deepening and expansion of my personal gifts has left its mark on my painting. As art critic J.C. Baitinger notes, my artistic journey ‘is part of a true alchemy, that of a Great Work in the making.’
These words reflect exactly how I feel: the evolution of my painting is inseparable from my humble and vibrant inner journey, where each personal metamorphosis nourishes my canvases.
Today, what remains from these years of experience are the flat areas of colour that structure the space, the vertical lines that organise my compositions, and the white frame that allows the light to breathe.
My geometric shapes remain, but they fade away to make room for life, roundness, colour, and light. My art has become a reflection of my own evolution, a painting that blends rigour and freedom, structure and inspiration, introspection and a view of the world, in a lively dialogue with those who inspire me and with myself.
It is therefore clear that each work tells a story, a journey, a deeply felt artistic approach.
The artist’s sensitivity is fully conveyed in it; it cannot be reduced to a simple decorative object.Today, when many believe themselves to be free from all constraints, it is becoming increasingly common to see works copied, or unique ideas appropriated… and sometimes even brazenly signed with the name of the plagiarist! Those who allow themselves to plagiarise or reproduce, even ‘just for themselves’, often ignore that for the author, it is experienced as a profound misunderstanding, an intimate pain in the face of the theft of their history and their creation…
Because a work of art is above all something to be felt, even understood; what may seem to be just a frame or a colour is in reality the expression of a personal story, a deeply intimate experience.
It is no coincidence that an artist’s work is protected by intellectual property law: it is not reduced to a simple image, it is the living testimony of a life expressed in this Art.
A life's work... a profession requiring commitment and resilience
Not just a talent...
Mon atelier, mon espace vital !
Being a professional artist is a full-time commitment, it means fighting to exist in an environment where recognition is earned through countless efforts. Years of hard work, doubts and self-questioning, persevering despite rejection and facing sceptical looks.
It requires daily discipline, iron will and the ability to pick yourself up after every failure.
Behind every canvas are countless hours of invisible work, sacrifices and a passion that never dies.
The cliché is hard to shake...
Far from the clichés of the carefree bohemian or the ‘poor artist’, there are as many types of artists — hard workers, dreamers, slackers, slackers, organised, creative, entrepreneurial — as there are different human beings on earth. Being a professional artist is much more than just painting.
It means creating, moving people… but also, like a business leader, managing exhibitions, travel, communication, social media, accounting, sales, internships, and everything else that goes into making a living from your passion. And there is nothing strange about knowing how to combine creativity, mastery and skills, both on canvas and behind the scenes.
Behind every work of art are hours of work, organisation and perseverance — a whole life dedicated to transforming emotion into colour.
These preconceived ideas are sometimes hurtful and far from reality. To be trapped in these reductive images is to deny the professionalism, rigour and value of an entire profession.
The journey of a lifetime...the other side of the canvas...
The other side of the... easel
Without claiming to speak for everyone, but based on my personal experience, female artists are not spared from the biased codes of a society still largely shaped by male reflexes. Already faced with the difficulty of making a living from their art, they also have to contend with male overrepresentation in galleries and prestigious venues, exclusion from juries and influential networks, the double burden of artistic creation and family life, travelling alone to manage everything, the demeaning image of a ‘provincial woman with a South-Western accent’ greeted with condescension by a certain ‘class’, and, conversely, facing the insistent, intrusive and degrading stares of certain gallery owners or men in positions of power.
Not to mention the heaviest burden of all: the instability of unpredictable years, having to, in a profession where you never know what tomorrow will bring, cover expenses, ensure the well-being of your children, and meet deadlines, even when income does not match expenditure…
“Today, I can see how far I’ve come and how far I still have to go, because nothing ever stops… Being one of the few artists who make a living from their art is already a daring gamble, especially when you’re a woman without a network, coming from the depths of Lot-et-Garonne, and from a background where art is seen as a hobby rather than a profession.
I would like to thank my lifelong friends for their support, I would like to thank my lifelong friends for their support, and I would especially like to thank Paul for believing in me from the very beginning, Bertrand for his warm presence and unfailing availability, and my children for putting up with an artist mother… I love you all…
To conclude, I will quote Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman elected to the Académie Française:
‘It always takes a touch of madness to build a destiny…’
Against all odds, I had the madness to believe in it…and I am happy that I did…
..."Un vent doux flotte sur vos arbres provençaux, et nous souflle au visage dans un (remarquable) mouvement à peine suggéré..." Extrait de la préface de Francis Cabrel
Francis Cabrel Auteur, compositeur, interprète