Contemporary Mandala Artist
Among the first artists to paint contemporary Mandalas, Marlis Ladurée creates meditation-inspired works in glaze and oil on canvas, illuminated by gold and silver leaf - a sacred art of circle, light, and inner harmony.
Derived from the Sanskrit word for "circle" or "centre", the mandala is a geometric pattern symbolising the universe and inner harmony - reimagined in contemporary form.
Born in West Berlin, Marlis Ladurée studied fashion design and illustration before arriving in Paris in 1978, where she became one of the first artists to paint contemporary Mandalas. Passionate about Asia, sacred symbolism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, she has devoted her work to the mandala in its most energetic, evocative form.
Her paintings are made with the glaze technique - a very diluted oil paint applied in successive layers - which gives her work remarkable depth and luminosity, enhanced by gold and silver leaf, modelling paste, and sometimes Venetian glass and semi-precious stones.
From Berlin to Paris, from fashion design to the sacred art of the mandala.
Marlis Ladurée was born in West Berlin, where she studied fashion design and illustration.
She moved to France, working as an independent designer and illustrator for the fashion and advertising industries before turning fully to painting.
During Hatha Yoga training with the Shri Mahesh French Federation, a lecture on the mandala became the subject of her academic paper "Mandalas and Yoga for Children" - and the title of her first creation, "Mémoire".
Her works, which had been exhibited at UNESCO in Paris, the United Nations in Geneva, and the Grande Arche roof-top in La Défense, reached a wider audience through publications and editions.
After completing her studies at the Ateliers du Louvre, she dedicates herself to the glaze technique, continuing to evolve her contemporary mandalas from her Paris studio.