Biography

Reminiscent of a utopian world, Sylvie Chadourne's artworks feature an ideal, eternal nature, far from the torments of her time, and thus offers us works of great depth.

Sylvie Chadourne Fine Art Paintings

Artist Biography

Sylvie Chadourne is born in France (Lille), on the 11th of march 1967. She is 9 years old when her family moves south, to the French Riviera.

As far as she can remember, Sylvie has always been attracted to colors and could not pass by an art supply store without staring at the window shop with glittering eyes. Sylvie started on her artistic adventure at 13 years old, when her father gave her some negative films and lent her his photo camera. She was so captivated by the art of photography that she decided to study laboratory work with professionals photographers, thanks to an "Atelier of Art" founded by her school. As a teenager, her interests also went to writing, singing, philosophy, and psychology, a field she studied later at the University of Nice.

Sylvie believes that most of our deepest aspirations are revealed to us when we are at the dawn of our lives. When she was 14, she toured Egypt with her parents. She came back with unforgettable memories, particularly of the fascinating hues of the desert skies, and an unquenchable thirst for traveling. But growing up, she suffered from strong social pressure: having to find her place in society and starting a career. But how can one be sure to make the right choice when one knows so little about oneself and even less about life? As she concluded her second year of university studies, Sylvie knew that she couldn’t continue to sacrifice the present for a hypothetical future. To her, life was a gift to be cherished and actively cultivated. At 19 years old, she decided to stop her academic psychology studies to travel to the French West Indies and South America, as much for the pleasure of discovering an “elsewhere” as for self-knowledge. There, she designed and sold jewelery using natural materials, such as polished coconut shell, fish scales and coral.

Two years later (in 1989), back in Europe, Sylvie started attending the art studio and lessons of the great French surreal artist Richard MERIC. She learned how to draw as well as the classical techniques of oil painting on canvas. Three years later, due to a back injury that makes it very painful for her to keep sitting for hours, she returned to Fine Art Photography and completed her study of the Art and Technique of Photography. Even if she made experimental photographs in her studio creating superb abstract shots featuring new patterns full of light and color, Nature became her favorite subject. Later on, she produced a new series of drawings on paper, mixing different dry mediums such as graphit, dry pastels, sepia, sanguine, charcoal and Carbone pencil (charcoal with oil). At that time, she successfully participates to collective and solo art exhibitions, in Hambourg (Germany), in Antibes (France) and in Marbella (Spain).

At 32 years old, Sylvie settled down in Marbella (Spain) where she taught herself how to use a computer. At the time, her goal was to build her own website to showcase her artwork, but she got so passionate about it that she became a professional web designer. Meanwhile, she kept on the Visual Arts path, combining photography, painting, drawing and digital art. At 41 years old, getting a bit bored with computer work, Sylvie accomplished a long time dream of becoming a singer and a musician  (acoustic guitar and recorder flute). Despite her talent as a singer-songwriter, she did not wish to make a career out of it. However, music plays an important role in complementing her study of the sense of harmony and rhythm.

In 2013, Sylvie craved travel again. Discovering a new opportunity in house and pet sitting, she embarked on a several years’ journey that will took her to Croatia, Italy, France, Spain, Costa Rica, Canada, the USA, and Bolivia. Travelling boosted her inspiration and gave her the impulse to start on a new adventure with the medium of watercolor, the versatility of which has been a revelation for her, leading the artist to a celebration of her long 'Romantic Contemplation visual quest', as she likes to call it. "Romanticism, a cultural movement that appeared in Europe at the end of the 18th century, is characterized by the will of the artist to explore all the possibilities of art in order to express one's moods: it is thus a reaction of feeling against reason, exalting mystery and fantasy and seeking escape and delight in dreams, the morbid and the sublime, the exotic and the past, the ideal or the nightmare of a passionate and melanchol sensibility."[ref]

Sylvie Chadourne digs deep inside her memories and instinctive personality to communicate with images like a poet would do with words. Her narrative paintings are meticulous in their detail, but are not merely photographically objective. She arranges her scenes precisely, heightens the colors and tones, and intensifies the contrast between the light and the shadows. Some of her works are composites of elements of photos she has taken in different locations along her travels. As you will certainly guess, Sylvie is a Nature lover. She believes that the company of Nature is an essential condiment to a sane and spicy life. Through her artwork, she hopes to spread that love for our beautiful world, to please the eyes or surprise them, and finally to celebrate with all of the miracle we're living in.

Education and Exhibitions


Sylvie Chadourne is a self-taught artist: drawer, painter, digital artist, photographer and musician.

Studies & Degrees:
1984: College 'Amiral de Grasse' - Grasse ( F) | Baccalaureate "Economic and Social Sciences"
1984-1986: University of Nice - Nice ( F) | Degree in Psychology (D.E.U.G)
Languages spoken: French, Spanish, English, and some German.

List of solo exhibitions:
1992- Reese Gallery - Oil paintings and Drawings (Hamburg, Germany)
1996- Klein Heinrich Gallery – Photography (Glückstadt, Germany)
1998- Galerie du Moulin – Photography exhibition + audio-visual show based on Syl’s photographs (Grasse, France)
2003- Kiosque des Arts - Oil paintings and Drawings (Cannes, France)
2007 - Prado23 - Digital art / Giclée (Marbella-Spain)

List of collective exhibitions:
1991- Galeria Llamas - Oil paintings and Drawings (Marbella, Spain)
1994- Sophia-Antipolis Gallery - Oil paintings (Antibes, France)
1994 - Marché d'Art du Musée Picasso - Oil paintings and Drawings (Antibes, France)
1995- Reese Gallery - Oil paintings and Drawings (Hamburg, Germany)
1997- Glückstadt Kino - Oil paintings, Drawings and Photographs (Glückstadt, Germany)
2000- Reese Gallery - Oil paintings, Drawings and Photographs (Hamburg, Germany)
2003- Kiosque des Arts - Oil paintings and Drawings (Cannes, France)