"Tree of Paradise," Séraphine Louis, 1926.

Louis (1864-1942) was a self-taught painter inspired by her own intense religious faith, and stained-glass windows in her local church.

A domestic servant, first at a local convent and later by assorted bourgeois families in the town of Senlis, she painted privately on various objects until 1912, when one of her employers, an art collector, stumbled on her work and was greatly impressed. He encouraged her to work more and supplied paints and canvases for her to work on. She was launched into a world of critical and financial success...but was ill-equipped to handle it and lost most of the money she made.

By 1932 her mental health, which was always wobbly, deteriorated to the point that she had to be institutionalized. She spent the rest of her life in an institution, sadly denied any sort of artistic outlet. Today she is remembered as a significant outsider artist.

From the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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