The healing paintings of Marie-Claire Barsotti

The subtle abstract art makes me stop in my tracks, and I stand still, quietly observing and letting the glow wash over me. There are blue and yellow hues, intermingled with crimson red and violet. I sense a warm feeling, like cosy velvet, and I observe a quiet ripple of peace and beauty. Time stands still, I feel perfectly in the moment.

A visitor on seeing Marie-Claire Barsotti’s paintings at Pitanga.

Hers is not a well-known name in Auroville artists’ circles. “I’ve always been a part-timer,” explains Marie-Claire. “I always felt that my creativity should be at the service of units that bring money to Auroville. For some years, I was involved with design. Then I did holoenergetic healing [a healing method developed by Dr. Laskow, eds.], gave holistic astrology consultations, and did teachers’ trainings. My feeling echoed that of the community that doing art was not serving the community, but only a self-centred occupation; and that being a full-time artist was egocentric.”

That feeling changed recently. “Last year, when I came back from a holiday, I decided to do more community service by taking part in a working group. But it didn’t make me happy. I worked hard, but felt discharged and, soon, exhausted. I got sick, and had to go for treatment. I realised that this was not my work.

“But then, what? I attended a Monica Sharma workshop. The question was asked. ‘What is it that you like doing most, what brings you joy?’ Suddenly, I had tears in my eyes, realising that my answer was ‘art’, and that I hadn’t allowed myself to do art because I wanted to be a goodie-goodie Aurovilian. The workshop changed something: I became aware of my true calling, that my ‘swadharma’ is art, and that art is my way to nourish and connect to the Divine. I continue teaching and giving astrological and healing consultations, but my focus has now shifted. Art is predominant. I’ve built up the self-confidence that allows me to dedicate myself fully to art, and that through art I also can be of service to Auroville.”

It led to her first solo exhibition in Pitanga, where her sculptures and paintings were well-received. “Pitanga is kind of a ‘safe space’, a space for your Auroville family,” she says laughing. The next plans? “Now that I have allowed myself to be an artist, I have started working for my next exhibition, which will take place in Auvers sur Oise, France, the small city where Van Gogh was painting his sunflowers. This will be followed by an exhibition in Paris, and then I’ll see again.”

Asked about the source of her inspiration, she says that it is changing. “Earlier, it was more a mental construct. Now, it is no longer a mental decision. I often start in a kind of trance, in an aspiration to let the Divine in, to open to what wants to manifest. Sometimes I concentrate for hours in front of a blank or unfinished canvas, not knowing what is going to be next. That process of active meditation brings deep joy. Then I let go. I look at the colours and see which one is calling me. I welcome what is coming – it’s more welcoming than choosing. Then, reciting mantras inwardly, and sometimes outwardly, I start working. It is very much done as an offering and a process of self-transformation.”

The public, she says, feels the atmosphere of the paintings. But she was surprised to hear the opinion of a visiting shaman. “She kept going from one painting to the other and back, making ‘oh, wow’ noises. Then she explained to me what she saw: that my paintings are ‘healing paintings.’ ‘This one,’ she said, ‘is connecting the heart and the brain; that one is opening the heart, and that one is acting on the solar plexus.’ But there was nothing like that in my mind when I created them – I just tried to let the inspiration come through.” But did she ‘feel’ in her paintings the energies which the shaman felt? “I have been working with healing energies, so the concept isn’t strange for me. But I lacked the self-confidence to ‘feel’ them in my own paintings, and I didn’t want to make ego-statements. But if someone else is telling you, then that is a pleasant confirmation.”

One of the exhibition’s most impressive paintings, which was almost immediately sold, is a red-dominated abstract with gold at its centre. “That one took almost a year.” Will she make another similar one? “That’s a challenge,” she says. “Up to now I was working for myself, experimenting, not working for an exhibition. But now that I have started preparing for an exhibition, it is tempting to repeat what I know will sell. I need money for my living, which is a good financial reason. But if I did that, I would trap myself, I would no longer be open to the inspiration. Every artist must have the courage to break the inner moulds, to get out of his or her comfort zone, shatter his or her fixed conceptions so that ‘the new’ can come in. Otherwise one’s work grows stale. That’s the courage we need. That’s the yoga.”

Soon, those who visit the Progress Landscape’s new office in the Old Last School compound will see Marie Claire’s first work of public art. It consists of two large black granite pillars, like totem poles, inlaid with streaks of gold leaf. “It came to me that these strong granite totems, with their golden lines, will also emit a healing energy!” she says.

For more information visit http://www.marieclairebarsotti.com/