Three questions to Agnès Tiollier
Agnès Tiollier (b. 1958, Lyon) was born into a family with a deep connection to arts. After studying literature, she pursued her passion for design at the School of Applied Arts, where she specialized in interior design and discovered her passion for both oil and silk painting—mediums that would define her professional career.
In 2014, she opened her studio, "Couleur d’ArTiste," in Lyon welcoming the public to experience her work. Since then, she has exhibited annually in both Paris and Lyon.
"My work is based on colour, light, and transparency”, she says, emphasizing her passion for conveying the beauty of nature through the luminous intensity of her colours, whether in oil painting or pastel, a medium of great richness. Her favourite themes include gardens, landscapes and the floral world.
Tiollier’s works are held in numerous collections in France and abroad.
In a lot of your paintings, in “Comme un mirroir III” for instance, you portray the amazing “Jardin de Majorelle” in Marrakech. Is there a particular reason or story behind that?
Well, I discovered this amazing place during my first trip to Morocco, almost twenty years ago. My curiosity naturally leads me towards gardens and I had heard about the Majorelle garden, which was then owned by Yves Saint Laurent. I fell in love with it instantaneously: first of all, by the maze of palm trees and other exotic vegetation, and then the harmony of colours, particularly the Majorelle blue, not forgetting the pool.
I went back there very recently, and rediscovered it. In fact, I loved it so much that I turned it into a sublimated garden, transcended by my imagination and put a lot of myself into my work. I noticed that all the colours dear to Yves Saint Laurent were in this garden, from the fuchsia pink of the bougainvillea to the yellow and turquoise green of the pots and the ultramarine blue of the buildings.
In the end, I only visited it twice, but it really made an impression on me and is still a great source of inspiration.
Which artists would you define as your biggest inspirations?
There are two great painters, Monet and Klimt, and then there's the man who marked my childhood, Walt Disney, with his drawings and his world. Last but not least, Matisse is also a great inspiration.
Monet is really my favourite painter. In my opinion, he painted all subjects because he painted according to his heart as well as aspirations, going from sublime scenes of life to restful landscapes with unspeakable light, not forgetting his garden at Giverny.
Klimt because, for me, he was a painter of Art Deco who sublimated his portraits of women with floral and other motifs, not forgetting his landscapes of a thousand colours and motifs.
Walt Disney because, thanks to him, I dreamt and imagined landscapes with colour harmonies that reminded me of his drawings.
Finally, Matisse inspired me a lot by the choice of his compositions and his use of colour : the apparently simple but powerful side of his works, all of which exude joy and a certain happiness in everyday life.
Does your background studying interior design have influenced the way you work?
I don't know if my studies have influenced me, but I'd say that they have opened up other horizons, particularly in textile design, the search for a motif, creativity .... and my search for colour!
Our top selection of Agnes’s works
