Erika Gagé

The Artist's Studio is a place of seduction and transformative power in Oscar Wilde's work. The Picture of Dorian Gray opens in a studio: Dorian is first seduced by Lord Henry Wotton's decadent pronouncements and here the picture that leads Dorian to ruin is created. The dual images of creation and decay represented by the studio draw Wilde's reader into the very public battle waging over Aestheticism, the movement that adopted Wilde as its most prominent emblem and most notorious sinner. Not surprisingly, few years prior to the publication of Dorian Gray, the little hamlet of Barbizon, on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau, became the promised land for a group of French painters ...

... Jean-François Millet,Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot,Théodore Rousseau etc. who later came to know as the Barbizon school of painters--searching refuge form the insipid, mordant, decadent and aesthetic claustrophobia of Paris; this exodus signalled a departure from formalism--a 1824, Salon de Paris exhibition of the works of John Constable evidenced to be catalytic too -- and, with reverence and a conviction to reconnect with a source that resides within/out, a move to draw inspiration directly from Nature.

It is still in this light that Erika Gagé for over 20 years in Barbizon has unbarred the doors of her Studio to you. You may not be a working artist, maybe you are trying to find form for your creative energies or trying to use art-making to come closer to yourself. At her Studio, Erika provides a ground for experiencing the passion and working with the challenges of bearing those gifts that are uniquely your own.The rounded-corner of the studio provides plenty of light and beautiful views of the garden. A short walk across the garden will take you to Erika's Gallery which showcases her latest works, etching, watercolour and handcrafted collectibles for visitors to purchase.

If you are visiting France and planning to come to Barbizon -- a Montmartre in the woods -- come and see Erika’s Au Jardin des Arts, see her personal working environment, works in progress and visit the gallery with completed works, peruse, and perhaps purchase something exquisite, charming and charged with history to add to your collection or to live with. (You can pre-book for painting lessons and group visits of the studio) Permit yourself to stop and get enchanted in Barbizon.