Élisabeth COUDOL, the art of poeticizing reality

Last February, Élisabeth COUDOL was selected by the ARTIST community. 

For the winner, it was completely unexpected, so incredible to win the artists' competition launched for a second edition by the Art-à-Porter brand.

At the heart of the upcoming collection "Secret Gardens," which is scheduled to be released online on the 1st^st on May 10, 2026, 

her canvas will live differently, now transposed onto clothing that is as feminine as it is artistic.

Eager to see the result, she confides that she enjoys this creative process very much.

“It’s very moving: a creation leaves the workshop and finds itself carried by women… A beautiful chain, a beautiful adventure.”

Her canvases are often created in pairs to establish a connection and a rhythm. The one being discussed thus has a "sister" in one of the latest series made after large formats.

There are fewer elements, more abstraction. Élisabeth wanted to simplify, to prioritize breathing to allow everyone to immerse themselves, to see and feel very freely. 

Her painting aims to be free before being figurative. This is what matters most to her.

She works the material with rigor: layers, withdrawals, imprints, textures. She uses acrylic, the knife, the brush, but also unexpected, repurposed, and diverted tools. 

Each canvas is a field of experimentation. Nothing is fixed. Nothing is reproduced identically.Each piece is a search.

 

Élisabeth COUDOL works in Barbizon, a mythical village on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest, whose name resonates in the history of painting. 

Since the 19th century, artists have come here to paint "outdoors," as close as possible to the trees, the light, the paths, and the seasons. 

It is in this deeply inspiring environment that Élisabeth has set up her workshop, bathed in calm, reflecting her work.

Here, through her energy, nature is not a backdrop. It is a presence. And this presence permeates all her creation. 

She states it herself with great clarity: her approach is not to copy the world, but to traverse it with her imagination. 

She does not seek accuracy; she seeks emotion. She prefers to idealize, simplify, shift, and suggest. 

From the panorama, she composes where her poetry has its rightful place. 

The countryside, the woods are omnipresent, but transformed by her gaze, filtered through memory, sensation, and intuition.

 The journey of Élisabeth COUDOL also sheds light on her universe. 

Focused on journalism, she worked in the press for about twenty years, particularly in decoration. 

A world of images, already. Of delicacy and sensitivity. This has allowed her to develop her gaze.

Two poles have always crossed her life: writing and painting, her main activity. 

Painting since childhood, like all children. But still, a bit more than a triviality, a discreet thread set aside. Never abandoned, it one day became central.

 Two gestures but one determination: to tell differently. Painting is also storytelling. It requires intention, structure, breath, tension.

 In parallel, she writes children's books, in collaboration with illustrators, further proof of this constant dialogue between image and narration.

“I am also very attentive to composition. A canvas, for me, is like a story with a beginning, a middle, an end.”

Élisabeth COUDOL does not paint nature, she traverses it.

Her scenes are never descriptive: they suggest, they confuse, they evade.
One recognizes leafy trees, horizons, spaces… But nothing is fixed. Everything is open, in motion.

 Each canvas becomes an inner territory where the gaze can get lost, linger, invent.

 In her work, color is never decorative. It is structuring.

Blue often returns. Almost instinctively. Like an unconscious signature. 

To this blue respond oranges, pinks, more muted or more vibrant shades.

Subtle balances. Gentle discordances.

 

When ARTIST launched its call to the community, over 400 artists proposed 800 works.

Incredible richness, multiple universes, strong characters.

Élisabeth's works immediately created a connection.

Perhaps because they leave room. Perhaps because they do not seek to impose a message. 

Perhaps because they speak to something more intimate.

Her canvas has been chosen. Carried. Supported.

And for us, it has become obvious.

« It is exhilarating to see her work chosen, like when a text is accepted for publication."

Élisabeth Coudol, painter and author
http://elisabeth-coudol.blogspot.fr/
http://www.elisabeth-coudol.odexpo.com/pro_page.asp

She has exhibited and continues in several galleries in France (Paris, Lille, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Dijon, Strasbourg, Granville…), 

at the Jean-François Millet Museum-Workshop in Barbizon, as well as abroad: in Spain, Japan, Belgium. 

It has collectors internationally.

Visit to the Barbizon workshop upon request: 06 11 20 38 48 50 km from Paris and 10 km from Fontainebleau.