Cathy Chalvignac

Cathy Chalvignac

The world in colors



Born 1954 in Paris, France. Raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The first ten years of my adult life I lived in France, then the past 25 years in Mexico


"I had always loved art, but after art school in Paris, I was disgusted and never wanted to paint again. It was years later, only after I arrived in Mexico, that I felt like I wanted to paint once more. Thank God I am here!”
--Cathy Chalvignac


Cathy Chalvignac always felt attracted to the fullness of the indigenous peoples around the world. From their shapes to their colors, and from their way of living to their way of feeling. Everything natural, belonging to old cultures centuries old, fascinates Cathy, guiding her hand in the elaboration of her beautiful paintings.

Although Cathy Chalvignac was born in Paris in 1954, her family moved to Montreal when she was still a young child. Her father was, and still is, a sculptor who works in stone and wood, and her mother was a fashion designer. In 1973, after high school, she moved back to Paris to attend art school, which she hated, finding it to be too rigid and restrictive. After this experience she practically gave up on art with the exception of photography. In fact, she would not return to painting until her arrival in Mexico in 1986.

With a clear vision of a world in desperate need of imminent change, Chalvignac expresses through her work a devotion with humble respect to ways of life that have been preserved over the centuries. Patterns, figures, and colors fill her canvasses giving life to her characters, making objects almost palpable. With brush stroke upon brush stroke, she manages to create images with an impressive photo-realistic quality.