Berthe Burgkan 1855-1936

Born in Paris in 1855, she trained at the École des Beaux-Arts under Boulanger, Jules Lefebvre, and Robert-Fleury. She exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français as well as in the exhibitions Les Arts de la Femme between 1878 and 1920.

A painter of genre scenes and floral compositions, she also created rarer, more profound works of symbolic inspiration. As noted in the Revue L’Œuvre d’Art of March 15, 1898: “Mlle Burgkan’s heads possess a certain strangeness and mystery which, whether rendered in pastel or paint, are full of charm.”

Eugène Hoffmann also praised her in his Livre d’Or des Peintres Exposants Vivants: “At the 1902 Salon appeared Laure de Noves, a head of striking character: the clarity of the features and the energy of the expression make this study a work of distinction, worthy of the brush of this true artist. In 1903, there was a pastel of a highly suggestive nature, Le Fascino, executed with the assured skill of Mademoiselle Burgkan: the tormented figure, illuminated with a fierce, almost malevolent expression, is typical. This work, brilliantly highlighted, stands out strikingly, embodying with rare intensity the spirit of evil.”

The three works we present are self-portraits by the artist, executed as fully realized pieces in which she also designed the frames with an imaginative, almost whimsical creativity.