Colette Bonzo

Colette Bonzo (19 August 1916, Saron-sur-Aube — 14 January 1967, Paris) was a self-taught French painter. After marrying the Greek physician Élie Bontsolakis in 1939, she lived in Paris. She turned to painting after the Second World War, exhibiting frequently in Paris. In 1957, together with her husband she bought the Château du Pin in Ardèche where her brightly illuminated Impressionistic works were inspired by the sun and the surrounding countryside. Hundreds of her works including portraits, still lifes, large rose garden scenes and sketches are now exhibited there. Others can be seen in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux and in the Château de Tournon.

Early life Born on 10 August 1917 in the village of Saron-sur-Aube in the Marne department, Colette Bonzo studied French literature at the Sorbonne. In 1939, she married the Greek physician Élie Bontzolakis and lived with him in central Paris. Bonzo's painting took a new turn as she produced works full of light and colour depicting the surroundings and the local inhabitants. Le Bal au bois de PaÏolive (1964), exhibited in the château is typical of the works she created there. L'Ours et le Lion, a landscape depicting the nearby Paîolive rocks, is also exhibited,