From childhood wonder to a permanent passion
The vast sunny beaches of the Opal coast in the north of France were the framework for Cathy Doutreligneare the first artistic awakenings. These landscapes, where the sky and the sea merged into a luminous expanse, left an indelible mark on its imagination. The childhood holidays spent along these coasts instilled in a fascination for light, space and the way the figures dissolved in the infinite horizon. These formative experiences would later become the foundation of his artistic vision – a vision deeply rooted in the poetic interaction between presence and absence.
Art was a natural language for Doutreligne, perhaps inherited from his family. The studies of her older brother at the School of Fine Arts presented her a world where the walls were transformed into galleries and where she wandered in her room as by a museum. This early exhibition in artistic discourse sparked a passion that would soon consume it entirely. With unshakable dedication, she continued her own creative path, refine her technique and deepen her understanding of form and composition.
After completing her studies at the School of Fine Arts, she faced the practical challenge to support herself in her work. She applied her artistic skills to projects commissioned from press, advertising and publication, while continuing her personal explorations in painting and drawing. Initially influenced by still life, it has meticulously studied objects, playing with light and shadow to give them life. Its academic origin in realism, and even hyperrealism, naturally led it to a figurative approach, although its perspective soon moves to a more atmospheric and introspective style.
Cathy Doutreligne – The bench100 × 100 cm
Cathy Doutreligne: the birth of the plates-plains
The Genesis of Places-Plaines beaches can be traced at a unique and revealing moment on a Normandy beach in the early 2000s. While Doutreligne was held at the water's edge, it observed how uniform light had apparently erased the physical contours of the landscape. The familiar geography has dissolved, leaving only behind an ethereal extent where time and space have merged. In this suspended reality, the silhouettes of beach lovers have emerged as the only visual anchors, punctuating the void with their ephemeral presence. This experience has become a catalyst for a new artistic direction – the one that sought to explore the role of the individual in an indefinite timeless environment.
This series represented a brutal gap compared to its previous paintings of dead life, which had been meticulously made up of collected objects arranged under dramatic lighting. When these works have focused on accumulation and details, Place-Places-Plaines have adopted dispersion and minimalism. The beach has become a conceptual step, a neutral area where human figures did not exist as individuals with distinct identities but as collective elements in a broader visual harmony. The orientation of Doutreligne has gone from the tangible and immediate to the distant and the summary, promoting a feeling of detachment which invited introspection.
At the heart of this exploration was the idea of double perception – how only one figure could be held independently but also dissolve in the surrounding environment. His paintings aim for the balance between presence and absence, evoking an atmosphere that is both nostalgic and timeless. The figures, although distinct, are made without personal stories, strengthening an almost dreamlike universality. Thanks to this approach, Doutreligne captures a poetic paradox: solitude and simultaneous interconnectivity of human existence in the immensity of nature.
Swell100 × 100 cm – Nautical dawn100 × 100 cm
Light, movement and distance research
Doutreligne's fascination for light defines its artistic approach. Sometimes he dissolved the scene in almost abstraction, while at other times, he sculpts crisp the waves and figures with striking clarity. Its fluid brushstrokes and its precise but expressive technique reveal a delicate balance between figuration and abstraction. Although its history in realism are obvious in its ability to make the forms precisely, it deliberately embraces an opening of composition, allowing each painting to breathe with movement and spontaneity.
His interest in capturing ephemeral moments extends beyond the canvas. She spends summers on the beaches that inspire her, observing, sketching and photographing the interactions in constant evolution between people and space. These studies become the foundation of her paintings, which she reworks and reinstalls in her Paris studio. Although she lives far from the coast, the rhythms of the sea are still present in her work. Her process is immersive – in front of her easel, she is lost in the act of painting, transported by the interaction of light and color.
A signature distinct from his work is the white borde framing of his compositions, recalling the photographs of Polaroid. This choice strengthens the idea of capturing ephemeral moments, distilling the immensity of experience in an image that feels both spontaneous and carefully constructed. The figures she painted – the baths, the walkers, the children at stake – does not aim to dominate the scene but rather to punctuate it, their presence animating the space without imposing a fixed story. This opening allows viewers to bring their own memories and emotions to the work, making each painting a shared experience rather than a singular declaration.
Sunset100 × 100 cm – Like a lagoon80 × 80 cm
Cathy Doutreligne: between abstraction and figuration
The artistic influences of Doutreligne extend over a wide range, from the luminous impressionism of Joaquín Sorolla to the expressive minimalism of Cy Twombly and to the quiet poetry of the compositions of Giorgio Morandi. His admiration for abstraction coexists with his love for figuration, and his work embodies this duality – structured but fluid, specific but universal. She is attracted by the art that surprises her, often gravitating towards styles very far from her own, finding inspiration in the unexpected.
His fascination for imaging extends beyond painting. Amandite of cinema and literature, it is deeply engaged in visual narration in all its forms. As a child, she was captivated by the illustrations of the Belgian artist Marcel Marlier, spending hours absorbing the delicates rendered from light and details. Although his artistic references have evolved, his appreciation for works that embrace both the void and the fullness remains constant. Morandi watercolors, for example, intrigue it as much for their negative space as for their slowly defined forms.
Painting is not just a profession for Doutreligne – it is a way of measuring time, a daily practice that anchors its existence. Almost every day, she stands in front of her easel, illuminated by the light of daylight lamps, going to the act of immersive creation. Each brushstroke is an attempt to capture the impermanence of light, changing relationships between figures and space, the rhythm of existence itself. And while her paintings already invite viewers in these suspended moments, she dreams of seeing them one day collected in a book – a tangible reflection of a life spent chasing the ephemeral beauty of time.
Salty languages100 × 100 cm – The greatness80 × 80 cm
