Amedeo Modigliani stated "When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes." Franco -American artist Isa D'Arleans creates magical, dream-like souls through her unique and reverent treatment of the eyes, with their heterochromatic gazes looking out into the ether. Mysterious and airy, Ms. D'Arleans' lyrical canvasses juxtapose bright, primary colors with soft, delicate brush strokes that permeate a distinct, spiritual quality to the atmosphere of her works. Cherubic faces belie the intensity of their scrutiny; eyes coming into sharp focus against this cloudy, hazy world that fills the space around the central figures. Creating an enchanted kingdom of heavenly portraits, Ms. D'Arleans's dreamlike compositions are beautifully wrought in a misty atmosphere infused with delicate flowing colors and bathed in swaths of translucent light.

 

Stunningly masterful, Isa D'Arleans' acrylic on canvas compositions invoke the angelic iconography of Renaissance masters; the sfumato brush style in contrast with the vivid, joyous palette against somber background colors creates the impression of an ethereal glow resonating out from the center of each subject. The colors and lines draw allusions to great, stained glass windows producing their own light, eliminating the thick jagged lines of the medium to blend those enthralling colors without borders setting them apart. This luminescent quality invokes a sense of awe in the viewer; developing the tension of holy spaces within the confines of the frame without explicitly demanding worship. Subtly playful, there is a mischievous quality mixed with a heavenly glow; a certain coy flirtation between the sacred and the earthly that allows the canvas to be tangible yet untouchable all at once. Achieving an otherwordly ambience, Ms. D'Arleans constructs a glorious fantasy, fairy tale realm radiating a serene resplendent joie de vivre intermingled with blissful harmonization; each dream-like figure is a picture of self-possessed sublime ecstasy.

 

Borrowing from the color spectrum, Ms. D'Arleans paints with an exceptional eye for color with a palette of essentially light-hued shades and primary tones glowing against the cooler tones of the backdrop. A tapestry of hues, she translates into rising, blending emotion. These otherworldly figures peer at us through a veil of enigmatic knowledge, sphinx like in their repose. Their eyes are captivating, not looking at the viewer directly while still managing to create a spiritual connection via a benediction of sight and hue. 

 

For over a decade, Isa D'Arleans' works have been collected and praised nationwide for their beauty and luminescent quality. Thriving in her passion for the arts across two continents, Ms. D'Arleans' canvasses are an ethereal delight for the eyes, mysterious and spiritually uplifting in their scope and technique. Celebrated in both France and the U.S., the transatlantic Ms. D'Arleans enjoys an international reputation with global collectors and corporations and spends half of the year in Seattle and half of the year in France.