Mireille Barrière

Mireille Barrière (born January 19, 1938 in Geneva ) is a Swiss painter of Art brut .

life and work

Mireille Barrière was born as the oldest of five children, but never met her siblings as their parents were deprived of custody at an early age. From the age of three to 15, she first lived in a hospital for the deaf , then in a home. In 1953 she was admitted to the «Espérance» home in Etoy VD . She worked in a web studio for around 30 years until she retired in 2000.

She began drawing in the late 1960s, or perhaps earlier. She has been doing it for several hours a day since she retired. She mostly draws on paper with pencil , colored pencil, ballpoint pen and pastel pen (“Neocolor”). Since this was initially rare in the home, she got used to using it on both sides. Thematically, her drawings often follow the course of the year, drawing motifs such as snowmen and candles at Christmas, or rabbits at Easter. Figures with a heart and a cigarette in their mouth are taken as self-portraits .

The museum in the warehouse in St. Gallen owns some works by Mireille Barrière.

Web links

• Biography and work pictures on the website of the museum in the warehouse