https://www.saatchiart.com/en-gb/studio/art/12707649/overview
“Remembering Provence”
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson
Acrylics on hardboard,
40 × 30 × 2 cm
Signed on front and back
“Remembering Provence” is a poetic homage to memory, solitude, and the quiet joy of revisiting a cherished past. Laura Bernardeschi Nelson captures a fleeting, sun-drenched moment of stillness: a woman, alone in a lavender field, is gently immersed in scent, colour, and personal reverie. Her soft posture and the basket she carries suggest not just harvesting flowers, but gathering fragments of memory—remnants of a journey through Provence and Camargue many years ago.
The figure is faceless, rendered with simplicity and care. She becomes an archetype of remembrance, someone who could be the artist herself or anyone who has ever wandered through beauty while quietly holding onto the past. The lavender rows, expressed with impressionistic dabs of purple, white, and blue, carry the viewer into a space where time seems suspended—an emotional landscape shaped by fragrance, sun, and the warmth of nostalgia.
The painting evokes the spirit of Provençal summers—but more than that, it speaks to the human desire to return, not just to a place, but to a feeling. Through this gentle scene, Nelson invites us to honour memory not as something lost, but as something alive in us, blooming still.
Painted in acrylics on hardboard (40 × 30 × 2 cm), the surface is alive with texture and movement, combining impressionistic techniques with storytelling detail. Laura Bernardeschi Nelson builds the scene with soft brushstrokes, layered dabbing, and dry brushing, particularly visible in the lavender fields, which are created with rhythmic strokes in violet, lilac, and pale blue.
The composition is harmoniously balanced: the vertical repetition of the lavender rows creates both rhythm and depth, leading the viewer’s gaze toward the solitary figure. The woman, dressed in a yellow gown and wide-brimmed white hat, is outlined with delicate highlights and soft shadows. Her basket is filled with lavender blooms, adding a tactile note to the scene.
The foreground grasses, painted in overlapping strokes of green, enhance the immersive effect—drawing the viewer into the field alongside her. Despite the stylisation, there’s a keen attention to atmosphere and emotional realism.
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson artworld and travels 