Biography

Gisèle Eisenmann Montagné was born in 1959 in Carcassonne (11). She lives and works close to of Valbonne (06). She paints under the artist name GEM. With a background in Life and Earth Sciences and after a professional career in computer science, she converted to painting during the 2020 pandemic.
A self-taught artist, she began painting during the lockdowns by learning the technique of Soft Pastels with tutorials on the internet. She then trained with artists in collective workshops to develop the practice of oil and acrylic painting, then she evolved with the artist Françoise Lebègue of Cannes (aka F Sim) towards more contemporary painting (collages, tactile textures or abstraction).

Two major events determined her new career as a painter:

• The pandemic of 2020 which isolated her 2 years from her very first grandson, still a baby, who lives abroad. This pushes her to transcend absence through the creation based on photographs. Painting is the art of creating presence, materializing beings and things here and now.
• At her first group exhibition 1 year later in 2021, she received a prize that reinforces her legitimacy as an artist by recognising the quality and value of her work.

After an essentially figurative period, impregnated with nature and its environment (portraits, landscapes), she evolved towards a more personal expression (mixed techniques, collage, abstraction).
She regularly exhibits solo (Gourdon (06,FR), Le Cannet (06,FR)) or in group events such as the Antibes Art Fair and the Cannes International Fair in the spring. His work has been rewarded with several awards.

Gisele Eisenmann Montagné is the winner of the following prices and awards

• 2025 and 2024 Luxembourg Art prize: certificate of artistic achievement
• 2024 Trophy Award of Antibes City [Painting Festival - (Picasso Museum friends organization)]
• 2021 2nd prize, Watercolour/Pastel category [Painting Festival - (Picasso Museum friends organization)]