Le sacrifice fait à Dieu de Séraphine de Senlis

Séraphine Louis, called “Séraphine de Senlis”, is a french painter whose work itself was known to the public at the beginning of the 20th century, further to an exhibition at Senlis, a small town of the department of Oise where she lived up to 1932. Her creative work, remarkable for the multiplicity of its themes and the exceptional richness of its colours, worthy of the most beautiful medieval inspiration, still to-day produces a real attraction. This warranted no less than a film in 2008 as well as an exhibition at the Maillol museum in Paris in 2009. Concerning our interest, this rests mainly on the clinical reading of the case and that from the strict indications given in the psychiatric reports of Clermont and also according to the evidence given by relatives and especially that of Anne-Marie Uhde — sister of the collector Wilhem Uhde, which accounts for her reputation — and set down by the art historian, Alain Virccondelet in his thesis dedicated to the artist. We shall then show clearly, beyond the esthetical representation to which the film of Martin Provost pays tribute what we choose to qualify as the “logical run”, which questions the rule and the function of creation for Séraphine de Senlis. Within this perspective, our concern will especially be to show how the public success and recognition of the artist and her work have not been beneficial to her.