---
title: "Séraphine Louis: flowers and trees in an imagined world"
description: "See how Séraphine Louis turns flowers and fruit into imaginary trees, from pomegranates against a blue background to the large canvases of the 1920s."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/seraphine-louis-paintings/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/seraphine-louis-paintings/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/articles/seraphine-louis-peintures/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/artigos/seraphine-louis-pintura/
---

Art and artists

# Séraphine Louis: flowers and trees in an imagined world

See how Séraphine Louis turns flowers and fruit into imaginary trees, from pomegranates against a blue background to the large canvases of the 1920s.

White daisies pile one on top of another. Their thin petals pass in front of dark leaves, while red stems spread out to the edges of the canvas. In another painting, an entire tree, from roots to crown, is covered in shapes that resemble leaves and feathers. Séraphine Louis (1864–1942), also known as Séraphine de Senlis, returned to plants to build these compositions.[^vpah]

Between the pomegranates painted around 1915 and the large trees of the late 1920s, both the scale and the use of space change. Branches that once floated against a plain background multiply; leaves contain other leaves; flowers become so numerous that the eye struggles to find a place to rest. Five paintings allow us to follow this transformation while keeping sight of the small patterns that give it shape.

The passage between leaf and feather takes another form in Chico da Silva’s *Peacock and Fantastic Bird*. The blue tail falls in long feathers divided by white, red and green veins; small stars and circles fill the dark neck. Beside Séraphine’s plants, the bird offers a way to see how brushstrokes following the same direction can form either foliage or plumage.

[![A peacock-tailed bird on a dark mound, with a second blue head, a butterfly and a cut branch. Peacock and Fantastic Bird, Chico da Silva, c. 1969, gouache on paper.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-086/chico-da-silva-peacock-and-fantastic-bird-undated-gouache-on-paper-50x72cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-086-chicodasilva.org-1280.jpg)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/peacock-and-fantastic-bird-086/)

*[Peacock and Fantastic Bird (c. 1969)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/peacock-and-fantastic-bird-086/), Chico da Silva João Cunha Collection.*

## Painting in Senlis

Séraphine was born in Arsy, in northern France, and worked as a domestic servant. She settled in Senlis in the early twentieth century. The Musées de Senlis educational dossier dates the start of her painting to 1905. Her early subjects included flowers and fruit; she painted on wood, cardboard and earthenware pots. Séraphine used Ripolin, an industrial paint.[^dossier]

The collector Wilhelm Uhde came to know her painting before the First World War. His interest in her work returned when he saw it in an exhibition in Senlis in 1927, and he began to support her financially. With his help, Séraphine could buy large canvases.[^dossier] This change in her material circumstances helps explain the dimensions of works such as *L’Arbre du paradis*, which is almost two metres tall.[^paradis]

## Les Grenades: a branch against blue

![Four yellow and orange pomegranates with black centres hang from a brown branch surrounded by pointed red, yellow and blue leaves against a light blue background.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/seraphine-louis/grenades-1280.jpg)

*Les Grenades (Pomegranates), around 1915. Ripolin on wood.

Séraphine Louis. Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie de Senlis, A.00.5.352. Photograph: Christian Schryve. [Reproduction and record at Pays d'art et d'histoire](https://vpah-hauts-de-france.fr/ressources/lartiste-seraphine-de-senlis/).*

One pomegranate occupies the centre, above three smaller ones. Each fruit has a yellow area that turns orange and red near the edge. A black circle with a small yellow mark in the middle interrupts the surface. The same pattern reappears at different sizes: repetition allows us to recognise the four fruits before following the branch that joins them.

The leaves have blue tips and red and yellow bands. Some look like small flames, elongated towards the tip. Their outlines remain clearly separated from the light blue background. There is space between the leaves, beneath the horizontal branch and around the group of pomegranates.

The whole branch hangs in this blue field. The picture needs no vase or table, and the visible brushstrokes in the background do not define a setting. The largest fruit, placed higher up, keeps the group from becoming a simple row. On the right, the blue signature follows the diagonal of the leaves.

## Les Grandes marguerites: flowers fill the canvas

![White daisies with yellow and red centres run down the middle of a mass of dark green leaves; thin reddish stems curve out at the sides against a pale background.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/seraphine-louis/grandes-marguerites-1280.jpg)

*Les Grandes marguerites (Large daisies). Ripolin on canvas.

Séraphine Louis. Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie de Senlis, A.00.6.176. Photograph: Christian Schryve. [Reproduction and record at Pays d'art et d'histoire](https://vpah-hauts-de-france.fr/ressources/lartiste-seraphine-de-senlis/).*

The white flowers form an irregular band that runs down the centre of the painting and widens towards the base. Each centre has a red circle and a yellow area. Around it, dozens of thin brushstrokes spread the petals in every direction. Some flowers touch; others appear alone among almost black leaves.

These dark spaces make the daisies stand out clearly. The larger leaves have oval or pointed outlines and small green and yellow patterns inside them. At the sides and at the top, very thin stems curve outwards. Their red, blue and ochre strokes cross over the pale background, as though the central branch were still growing at every tip.

The composition leaves some of the white background visible, especially in the upper corners. Lower down, the forms become denser and the red stems thicken. The group fills almost the entire height of the canvas; the daisies form a path between the dark area at the base and the more open branches at the top. Compared with the pomegranates against blue, they lead the eye along a different route, with successive stops at flowers of different sizes and angles.

## L’Arbre de vie: from roots to crown

![A tree with a rounded crown and red and blue leaves fills almost the entire canvas; dark roots spread out at the base against a green, white and blue background with bright dots at the top.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/seraphine-louis/arbre-de-vie-1280.jpg)

*L’Arbre de vie (The tree of life), 1928. Oil and Ripolin on canvas, 144 × 112 cm.

Séraphine Louis. Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie de Senlis, A.00.6.187. Photograph: Christian Schryve; reproduction from Pays d'art et d'histoire. [Collection record at Musées de Senlis](https://musees.ville-senlis.fr/seraphine-louis-larbre-de-vie/).*

The tree has roots, but its trunk almost disappears. At the base, a dark mass spreads into red and white points; above it, foliage takes the place that wood would occupy. The outline of the crown forms a broad curve, with the highest branches raised at both ends.

The colours are arranged in irregular bands. At the top, red forms with pale centres predominate. A large blue area crosses the middle, surrounded by red and orange leaves along the lower edge. Small circles of white and pink dots are scattered through this vegetation. The white background appears in narrow gaps between the branches.

Near the ground, dark green rises along both sides of the crown. At the top, blue forms a curved band dotted with pale marks with dark, reddish edges. The sky takes part in the pattern: its bright dots continue the rhythm of the pale centres of the leaves and flowers. The whole tree is visible, but the repeated details keep drawing the eye closer and then back again.

According to the Musées de Senlis, Séraphine did not give her paintings titles; *L’Arbre de vie* was chosen by Wilhelm Uhde and his sister, then the owners of the canvas, to give it a sacred dimension. The biblical reference is part of the work’s reception.[^vie]

The same record lists the use of oil and Ripolin. Long coloured brushstrokes, which the museum likens to feathers, run through the plant forms. The resemblance between leaf and plumage can be followed closely: a dark outline contains several narrow strokes in different colours, gathered around a central direction.[^vie]

## L’Arbre du paradis: a passage between the leaves

![A red trunk rises on the left among yellow, blue and black leaves covered in dots; a white and blue band crosses the foliage from the centre to the lower edge.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/seraphine-louis/arbre-de-paradis-1280.jpg)

*L’Arbre du paradis (The tree of paradise), around 1929–1930. Oil on canvas, 195 × 130 cm.

Séraphine Louis. Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, AM 2817 P, on deposit at the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie de Senlis. Photograph: Christian Schryve, via Pays d'art et d'histoire. [Collection record at Centre Pompidou](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cgbx8q).*

The red trunk rises on the left and divides into thick branches. The crown has lost the rounded outline of the previous tree: leaves and shoots reach the edges, cut off by the limits of the canvas. In the middle, a white and blue opening narrows towards the top and widens as it reaches the lower edge. This pale band offers a passage between the masses of colour.

The leaves change scale without following a single pattern. Near the centre, a very large black shape contains a blue pattern outlined in yellow and pink, like an eye. Smaller leaves appear around it, some with oval shapes nested inside one another. White and yellow dots cover the dark areas; in the red parts, small blue shapes follow one another like shoots.

There are several ways to follow the painting. The trunk leads upwards, the dots make the eye jump between distant leaves, and the pale band leads back to the base. In *L’Arbre de vie*, it was still possible to follow the tree’s outline with the eyes. Here, the framing brings the vegetation closer and leaves parts of it outside the picture.

The Musée national d’art moderne at the Centre Pompidou received the canvas as a gift from Anne-Marie Uhde in 1948.[^paradis]

## Les Fruits: the basket fills too

![Round yellow and orange fruit mingles with white and green leaves against a dark background; broad curved black bands cross the lower half like a basket.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/seraphine-louis/fruits-640.jpg)

*Les Fruits (Fruit), around 1929. Oil on canvas, 92 × 73 cm.

Séraphine Louis. Musée de Grenoble. Photograph: © Ville de Grenoble / Musée de Grenoble, J.-L. Lacroix. [Record at Centre Pompidou-Metz](https://www.centrepompidou-metz.fr/fr/programmation/expositions/seraphine-louis).*

The round fruit returns, now in large numbers and surrounded by leaves. Its colours range from yellow to reddish brown, with small dark circles near the edges. Some fruits hide behind others; the smallest are scattered towards the outer edges. Between them, white and green leaves create pale gaps against the almost black background.

In the lower half, broad black bands form a basket. They cross the fruit and leaves but leave much of the contents visible. Branches and pale shapes continue between the curves and beneath the rim of the container. The basket holds part of the composition, while the whole group grows upwards and out to the sides.

The canvas dates to around 1929, according to the Centre Pompidou-Metz caption.[^metz] Its closeness in date to the large trees shows that this expansion of foliage could also fit into a still life: fruit and leaves multiply, fill the gaps and spill beyond the container. The dark circles of the small pomegranates still have counterparts here, scattered across a much fuller surface.

The retrospective *Séraphine Louis. De Senlis et sans rivale* at the Centre Pompidou-Metz is announced for 31 October 2026 to 12 April 2027, curated by Elia Biezunski. The [exhibition page](https://www.centrepompidou-metz.fr/fr/programmation/expositions/seraphine-louis) has information about the show and a reproduction of *Les Fruits*.[^metz]

## Leaves, wings and filled surfaces

[![A tall fantastical bird with a spoked, wheel-shaped wing, a small chick, and a striped butterfly above. Fantastic Birds and Butterfly, Chico da Silva, c. 1967, gouache on paper.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-073/chico-da-silva-fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-undated-gouache-on-paper-55x76cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-073-chicodasilva.org-1280.jpg)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-073/)

*[Fantastic Birds and Butterfly (c. 1967)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-birds-and-butterfly-073/), Chico da Silva João Cunha Collection.*

In *Fantastic Birds and Butterfly*, the larger bird has a wing divided into pale lobes. Each lobe receives strokes of one colour and is separated from the next by a blue or green line. The rounded forms resemble petals; the marks follow the direction in which they open. In the branches of Séraphine’s *The tree of life*, the red and blue leaves also contain further shapes and smaller brushstrokes. Detail repeats within the outline that holds it.

The gaps create a visible difference. Between Chico’s creatures, pale paper remains visible beneath bands of coloured strokes. In Séraphine’s crown, leaves grow dense enough to conceal almost all the background, which reappears in white slits. These ways of filling a support can be compared in [Chico’s paintings](https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/) and in the reproductions of Séraphine above.

In France, [*Singulières: artistes, autodidactes, affranchies*](https://www.musee-lam.fr/fr/singulieres-artistes-autodidactes-affranchies), at the LaM, includes Séraphine Louis among its announced artists and runs from 3 October 2026 to 14 February 2027.[^lam]

[^vpah]: Pays d’art et d’histoire de Senlis et Ermenonville. [*L’artiste Séraphine de Senlis*](https://vpah-hauts-de-france.fr/ressources/lartiste-seraphine-de-senlis/), Villes et Pays d’art et d’histoire des Hauts-de-France network. Records of the four works held in Senlis and Uhde’s support in 1927. Photographs credited to Schryve; the museum dossier gives the name Christian Schryve.

[^dossier]: Musées de Senlis. [*Séraphine et les Primitifs modernes. Dossier pédagogique*](https://musees.ville-senlis.fr/app/uploads/2025/05/dossier_seraphine_louis.pdf), pp. 3–4 and 7 (life and Uhde’s support), 14–15 (media and credits for the reproductions).

[^paradis]: Centre Pompidou. [*L’Arbre du paradis*](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cgbx8q), inventory AM 2817 P. Date, medium, dimensions, collection and acquisition.

[^vie]: Musées de Senlis. [*Séraphine Louis, L’Arbre de vie*](https://musees.ville-senlis.fr/seraphine-louis-larbre-de-vie/), inventory A.00.6.187. Technical details, the Uhdes’ choice of title and commentary on the shapes of the leaves.

[^metz]: Centre Pompidou-Metz. [*Séraphine Louis. De Senlis et sans rivale*](https://www.centrepompidou-metz.fr/fr/programmation/expositions/seraphine-louis). Exhibition dates, curator and caption for *Les Fruits*, including medium, dimensions, collection and photographic credit.

[^lam]: LaM. [*Singulières: artistes, autodidactes, affranchies*](https://www.musee-lam.fr/fr/singulieres-artistes-autodidactes-affranchies). Programme and selection of artists, checked on 22 October 2026.

## Related reading

-   [Henri Rousseau: jungles imagined in Paris](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/henri-rousseau-paintings/)
-   [Primitive, Naïve, Indigenous](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/primitive-naif-indigenous/)