“It’s a funny thing because you always paint the thing you’re closest to … We all paint our desires, you know, where we are. We paint where we are.”
American-born British painter Chantal Joffe turns her gaze on herself, her life, and her experiences, capturing not just the outward appearance but also the emotions, moods, and desires of the person in front of her, or reflected in the mirror.
In the video, Chantal Joffe reflects on her series of self-portraits, made during the breakup of a long-term relationship. Turning to painting as a way of anchoring herself, she began a daily practice: “It was like keeping a diary. Even if I was depressed, it helped because I’d done something in the day. I’d achieved something, I’d made a painting.”
She describes how this body of work became both therapeutic and liberating: “I sort of suspended any idea of them being good paintings, so they were only for me and it didn’t matter how they were. They felt very free and exciting … my face was the stage.” Over time, the paintings traced her shifting moods, from sadness to recovery: “There was a moment when you can see I’m starting to get less sad … and then finally I’ve gone to New York and it’s summertime and the colors are really bright. There’s a sense you’re coming back into yourself.”
For Joffe, painting remains inseparable from lived experience: “When I had a baby, I painted babies. When I was very young and I wanted to have sex, I painted sex. You always paint the thing that’s happening in your life or how you’re feeling … I mean, that’s an exciting thing about art, that’s what it’s for.”
Chantal Joffe (b. 1969, St. Albans, Vermont, USA) is a painter known for her expressive and loosely gestural portraits. With bold brushstrokes and emotional depth, Chantal Joffe has spent a lifetime painting women, children, and the people in her life, often drawing inspiration from family photos, fashion magazines, and the work of other artists. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art and completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2006, she was awarded the Royal Academy Wollaston Prize for the most distinguished work in the Summer Exhibition. Chantal Joffe’s works are included in several museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA; Detroit Institute of Arts, USA; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
Chantal Joffe was interviewed by Nanna Rebekka in her London studio in April 2023.
Camera: Kyle Stevenson
Edited and produced by: Nanna Rebekka
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025
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