Anne-Françoise Bélanger

Born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1953, Anne-Françoise Bélanger is a self-taught professional painter who developed her craft within structured artistic environments guided by professionals. A Canadian artist, she has lived in Québec for most of her life. With a degree in psychoeducation/psychotherapy and a career as an interventionist and manager, she began her training in drawing and painting in 1989 in the United States. She continued in Québec under the guidance of Madame Jeanne-d’Arc Trudel at Atelier Tirelou in Trois-Rivières, where she refined the abstract-expressive style that now defines her work. Retired from the health and social services sector since 2013, she has devoted herself fully to a professional career as a painter. After moving to the Montréal area, she attended Atelier du Geste in Montréal from 2013 to 2020, the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (ACADEM) from 2017 to 2019, and since 2018 has been pursuing her training at the studio of Carol Bernier. Since 2021, she has also taken part in weekly painting and creative workshops at Studio 3333 in Montréal with the group Les beaux mardis.

A professional artist member of the Regroupement des artistes visuels du Québec (RAAV), ARTxTERRA, and listed in the Répertoire des artistes et artisans de St-Lambert, she is also a member of the online gallery platform Gallea. Her experience includes six solo exhibitions and numerous group shows, both juried and non-juried. Her work is represented on a permanent basis by Galerie l’Harmattan in Baie St-Paul.

Bélanger draws strong inspiration from the Automatistes, with Marcelle Ferron being a key reference. At times, her gestures recall the impasto of Paul-Émile Borduas. The artistic movement of the 1950s and 1960s nurtured her childhood (as well as her preference for oil as a medium), through the unforgettable works of neighboring painters René Richard and René Gagnon, which adorned the walls of her family home in Saguenay.

Her childhood and teenage years spent swimming in the lake at the family chalet, and her adult life sailing the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain, inevitably find their way into her paintings. The movements of water and wind, and the colors of rocks eroded by their constant friction, echo throughout her work. Look closely, and one might almost hear the murmur of The Sound of Silence, her favorite song.