Stéphanie PICARDAT: Fragments of Life, beneath the emotions, life!
In Stéphanie Picardat’s story, art was long a silent certainty, only to finally take shape, awakened by life’s upheavals. She continues a generational thread begun by her grandmother, weaving between heritage and personal expression to create a profoundly inhabited body of work. Today, her portraits—with their strong silhouettes, anchored gazes, and vibrant colors—captivate. Their intensity fascinates: a presence emerges that is at once direct and mysterious.
Stéphanie PICARDAT
In this interview, Stéphanie PICARDAT shares her story with painting — a practice rooted in her heritage and shaped by the different stages of her life. The intensity of her portraits is softened by a vibrant palette, one that celebrates emotion with authenticity and without restraint.
Ngalula MAFWATA : What did your beginnings in art look like?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : My journey began in a rather traditional way. After earning a baccalaureate in visual arts, I went on to a preparatory class for the Beaux-Arts and then pursued studies in art history. I eventually entered the professional world through art publishing, and later worked in the luxury fashion industry.
I started painting around the age of seventeen, and stopped around twenty-five when I began my professional life. Yet, creativity never really left me — it continued to accompany me daily, whether through publishing, fashion, or corporate patronage. My pictorial practice, however, remained buried. I didn’t assert it, even though it was always there, deep within me.
Couple en équilibre (36x27), Acrylique et feutre sur toile, Stéphanie PICARDAT
Ngalula MAFWATA : How has your personal history shaped your approach to painting and the themes you explore?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : I stopped painting after a personal shock: the loss of my fiancé at a very young age. That door closed, and it didn’t reopen until several years later, following another loss. This is why my work revolves around memory and remembrance, with characters and portraits that are sometimes prominent, as in my series Amor Fati, and at other times diffuse. I resumed painting around 2018, fully embracing the desire and will to express myself through it, after a period of silent and personal practice.
Ultimately, I realised I have always wanted to explore memory and the question: what remains of us, ultimately? What shapes us? This is what is reflected in my work. What traces of those absent from our lives are legible in us, and how do they manifest? We are all made of this — our encounters, our joys, and our losses. Painting is my personal way of externalizing it.
Ngalula MAFWATA : Intimacy seems to have a significant influence on your work, doesn’t it?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : My family influences are strong, especially through my paternal grandmother, who was a painter all her life and devoted much of her existence to it, also in silence. My journey echoes hers. She was a strong, determined woman who knew what she wanted. She was the one who introduced me to color and encouraged me to overcome certain family-related complexes. While others seemed to possess a natural gift for drawing, for example, I found my own artistic language through color, above all.
“Ultimately, I realised I have always wanted to explore memory and the question: what remains of us, ultimately? What shapes us? This is what is reflected in my work. ”
Amor Fati I (49x60), Acrylique et feutre sur toile, Stéphanie PICARDAT
Ngalula MAFWATA : How do your personal and family experiences inform your artistic work?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : There is a portrait of my father, painted by my grandmother, that has always stayed with me. It isn’t a very accomplished portrait — it was done quickly on cardboard, with a certain rigidity and little movement. Yet, it remained in me. In hindsight, I realize that I drew on this memory to shape the portraits I paint today: upright in their posture, shoulders set, arms often rigid. It’s a portrait I grew up with, one that resurfaced as we moved around my parents’ apartment. A precious portrait, imbued with a quiet presence.
Ngalula MAFWATA : Your use of color is unique — can you tell us more about it?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : My use of color is extremely spontaneous; there is no deliberate aesthetic intent. It acts as a guiding thread, allowing me to mark time, signal stages, and define my characters to bring them to light. Color is instinctive and carries my art. It is through color that I reveal these bodies on my canvases. This profusion reflects an emotional state more than an aesthetic choice. I simply cannot do otherwise — I don’t know how to. These colors testify to who I am.
Blue, for example, was an obsession for a time, a dark and difficult period. In contrast, Amor Fati expresses reconciliation and rebirth: a phase of my life where I reconnected with joy. There is a sense of letting go and acceptance in this series. This gaiety comes through in the warmer and more abundant colors. No matter how much we try to intellectualize things, emotions speak. Painting, even during more serene periods, is essential. Accepting to create differently — it’s wonderful.
Mémoire de l'eau VII (29x29), Acrylique et feutre sur toile, Stéphanie PICARDAT
“C’est difficile d’être complètement ce que l’on est. La peinture, c’est se mettre à nu et être vulnérable, encore plus en société. C’est un moment délicat que d’expliquer sa démarche, avec cette impression que le regard de l’autre va tout définir”
Ngalula MAFWATA : The gazes in your work are so deep; they draw the viewer into your canvases.
Stéphanie PICARDAT : I realized, by observing what captures the attention of people discovering my work, that I am often told that I create portraits that look back at us — something I hadn’t consciously noticed. It’s so true. I make sure my portraits tell a story, conveying different emotions. Some of my characters have recently begun to show a calmer, gentler gaze.
Ngalula MAFWATA : There is a sense of caution in your journey and your words — how do you approach your identity as an artist?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : It’s difficult to be completely who you are. Painting is about laying yourself bare and being vulnerable, even more so in society. Explaining your process is a delicate moment, with the sense that the other person’s gaze will define everything: whether, deep down, my artistic proposition resonates or not. Because I am entirely what I paint, this can make me fragile, especially when facing someone who isn’t sensitive to my work. I still have a lot to learn in this regard.
The question often comes up: “Do you make a living from it?” Selling validates it. When I resumed painting full-time, I kept this decision to myself before sharing it with my circle — except for my children, who supported and encouraged me from the very beginning.
Nos âmes d’enfants I (61 x 38 cm), Acrylique sur toile de lin, Stéphanie PICARDAT
Ngalula MAFWATA : What drives you the most currently ?
Stéphanie PICARDAT : I really feel the need, the call to dive back into colours and abstraction, without abandoning my portraits, and to approach my work from a different perspective.
Discover Stéphanie Picardat’s work on VLFineArt and her personal platforms. Her artworks will be exhibited at the next edition of Art Shopping Paris at the Carousel du Louvre from October 16 to 19, 2025.
