Flowered rooms: the flowered castle of a French artist

Artist Claire Basler's chateau, nestled in the languid hills of central France, is filled with flowers on the inside and surrounded by flowers on the outside. Not only are flowers her favorite subjects for her paintings, they are also her favorite decor, and she arranges them as installations in each room to complement the murals she paints on walls, ceilings, and doors. Being inside the home she shares with her husband, Pierre Imhof, is like being inside one of his paintings - mesmerizing, magical and otherworldly.

Claire's ability to create unique and deeply moving images of interior environments comes, in part, from her desire to share the power of several impactful childhood experiences. At 12, she had an epiphany in a Gothic palace in Avignon. While other young people might have tugged at their parents' sleeves to demand an early release from visits to the Palace of the Popes, Claire stood still inside its 14th-century walls. Enveloped on all sides by ancient frescoes inside Pope Clement VI's private study, the stag room, she was defeated. “I had the strong impression that I was not just looking at the painting,” she recalls, “but that I was part of the painting.” spacefinder-role="showcase" data-spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-5h0uf4">

Claire's unique worldview was inherited from her parents. His father, the French modernist architect Jean-Jacques Basler, and his mother, Bernadette Basler, refused to subscribe to the trends of their time. Her father had a passion for wildflowers and he not only shared his interest with Claire, but taught her to really see them. The influence of his teachings on his artwork, home interiors, and vision lasted throughout his life. "We live in a very visually stimulating environment...