She then combined them into “credible spaces” forming strange landscapes, which provoked in the viewer a feeling of mirage often leading to discomfort, exploring the possibilities and contradictions of these artificial images. At the centre of this universe, nymphs become shapes, or perhaps the contrary, and the geometric form becomes a water lily, a symbol of proven effectiveness, definitively checked and almost exhausted by the vast series by Claude Monet and the immersive decor of Musée de l’Orangerie.

Redrawn and normalised, the water-lily leaf is at the heart of a contemplation on painting, the composition of the piece, and the search for formal solutions for creating a visual space. “As I started to paint them,” enthused Amélie Bertrand, “I felt that it was the coolest thing I had done in a long time. It was easy, and I was free because the water lily appeared immediately on the painting. (..) The coloured areas of the water lily appeared and enabled me to easily place the layers, transparency and shading. Just a formal interplay of paint.”

After a lengthy development on her computer and then in the form of stencils, the artist meticulously painted the motifs in oil according to a single-layer technique that forms perfectly smooth solid colours or masterful shading. She summons colours with unbounded smoothness for light effects intended to be observed rather than explained.