“Nobody can resist the charm and poetry of the Provençal landscapes of Elisabeth Estivalet.” So begins a recent review of an exhibition of the work of Elisabeth Estivalet, a painter whose transcendent evocations in oil of Provence in the South of France are winning not only ecstatic praise, but prizes and honors wherever they are shown.
But no one who has seen Estivalet’s work can be surprised by her growing international reputation. Under her touch, light and color achieve a subtle harmony that speaks of the perfect mastery of her medium – of her art. It is the quality of light and color that Cézanne himself was extolling when he chided others for painting only likenesses of nature, instead of a portion of nature itself. And “a portion of nature itself” is precisely what Estivalet brings to light in her marvelously luminous canvases – that portion which seems to embody the poise and serenity of gently rolling hills, sun-swept villages and the pleasures of winding country roads.
These are the hills, villages and roads of Estivalet’s beloved adopted home in the South of France, a home she moved to in 1978 from Poland, where she was born. Though trained in philosophy and economics, Estivalet found in the countryside of Provence the inspiration that ignited her longstanding passion for painting and she set to work to master the uncompromising medium of oil painting. Working with a palette knife only, she soon began to create canvases of such beauty that galleries, collectors and juries, in France and abroad were singing her praises and honoring her efforts with prizes and exhibitions. Gold medals for painting followed in rapid order – from the Salon International de Nyons, the Salon International de Cassis, the Salon International de Mallemort de Provence, the Salon International de Cavaillon, the Salon International de Rive de Giers, the Salon International de St. Chamond, and the Salon International de Teil, among others – and collectors from around the world began seeking out her work to add to their collections. As a result, Estivalet’s paintings can now be found in collections from the U.S., Great Britain and Switzerland to Venezuela, South Africa and Australia, and every day, as her stature and reputation increases, her body of collectors, both public and private, only grows.
