Carole Pinto Fine Arts

De la Chassagne trained at the Beaux Arts Academy in Paris under the tutelage of the prestigious master painters Bougereau, Ferrier and Lefebvre.  She exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Francais as of 1897, and although a ceramicist, sculptor and painter by training, she excelled in the art of pastel.  The still life pastels  of  Symbolist artist Odilon Redon had a profound impact her, and she sought inspiration from his symbolist still life representations when creating her own compositions.   Her tender portraits of children are very reminiscent of those of Mary Cassatt and Degas, who were working in Paris at the same time her and exhibiting with her at the Salons.

In this composition, De la Chassagne brings to life a bouquet of pansies, whose highly contrasted tonalities and sinuous, sensual forms add movement and luminosity to the pictorial surface.  The delicate petals and undulating vibrancy of the composition seem to invite the viewer to intimately savor their beauty.