How does Françoise de Felice manage to convey sweetness and sorrow in her works?

Paintings full of positive or negative emotions, or a mixture of both, are the trademark of painter Françoise de Felice and reflect a totally conscious choice since emotion is the first universal language of every human being. But how exactly does she manage to convey softness and sadness in her works?

Using colours that evoke emotions

French-Italian painter Françoise de Felice was born in France in 1952. Encouraged by her grandmother, she started painting as a child. She studied at the Sorbonne and the Fine Arts School and embraced the French impressionist style until 1982. From that year onwards, she almost changed her style to Italian Baroque. She then moved to Sicily. It was there that she produced her first works which were filled with various emotions. Françoise de Felice transmits sweetness and sadness through her works, and these two emotions have represented her signature and personal mark. In addition, there is another common point in the majority of her paintings: the use of colours that arouse emotion. For example, in her painting 'The Game of Appearances' and 'Two-Way Mirror' which were both released in 2019, she uses a blue gradient and a red gradient, two colours associated with nostalgia, sadness and grief.

The emphasis is on softness and femininity

To confine the artist's work to a purely depressive style would be absolutely wrong. In fact, Françoise de Felice manages to balance her creations with a touch of gentleness and tenderness wonderfully, especially through her depictions of young women in different styles. She paints portraits of one to four women in the same painting, elegantly dressed in fine white fabrics. Animals and flowers are also sometimes depicted. The whole is painted in a fluid way, with fine lines and shapes (Françoise de Felice uses watercolour a lot). On the other hand, the women's faces communicate a feeling of introspection and lightness, reinforcing the softness or sadness perceived through the painting.

A painting style that transcends time!

In all of Françoise de Felice's paintings, nothing is ever totally positive or negative. Everything is a mixture of sweetness, sadness, anxiety, joy, melancholy and introspection. She also likes to explore the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. The young women she paints cross time and tell a poetic story. In a nutshell, Françoise de Felice's artistic universe is full of symbols, stories and mythologies.