Cecile Filipe was born in Lisbon. She moved to Paris with her parents in 1975 at the age of nine, following the end of the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal. Disconnected from her home, her friends and from native language, she found solace in drawing. Filipe studied interior
architecture at the Camondo School, graduating in 1991, but continued to develop her studio practice in parallel with a successful career in architecture.
Filipe’s paintings are at once expressive and highly structured, often contrasting deep blacks with bright primary reds, yellows and blues. They expose the influence of her architectural background and a longing for the Lisbon of her childhood. In much of her work, broad gestural brush strokes sit below more rigid linear marks, which appear like a sculptor's armature, providing stability and tension for the plastic materials of modelling. This duality of poetry and form underlying Filipe’s approach creates a constantly shifting focus between impression and definition, strength and fragility.
Filipe considers painting a necessity and works intuitively using acrylic paint, pure pigments, inks, watercolour and collage. “Painting allows me to expel my emotions. It's also a constant inner and aesthetic search for light, depth and balance. I want to paint what can't be seen : the breath, the wind, the movement, the emotion, the rustle of the leaves, rain, ice, seasons.”
Cecile Filipe’s work has been presented in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including, forthcoming: Espace Charles X, solo exhibition, Saint Cyr sur Loire (2025); Espace Jolly Leterme, solo exhibition / Saumur (2025). Recent exhibitions include: Espace la Douve, 'Poetic Journey', solo exhibition, Langeais (2024); Le Cactus Bleu Gallery Collective Exhibition / Tourse (2024); Safe Space Collective Exhibition, Prague (2024); Super Exit Museum, Virtual Exhibition, New York (2024); Carouge, solo exhibition, Switzerland (2023); NoonPowell Fine Art, group exhibition, London (2023); Red Sheep Gallery, 'Le Voyage Immobile', solo exhibition, New York (2023); Le Cactus Blue Gallery, collective (2022); Domaine de Rocheville, solo exhibition, Parnay (2022); Visionary Projects The Era of Change, New York (2021); Chaon Gallery, Granville (2017).
Her work has also been exhibited at art fairs throughout Europe, including: Rois Auction House, Frejus; L’Art Sous Les Paves Art Show, Paris; Mc Gallery Collection Hotel Molitor Art Show, Boulogne Billancourt; L’Art Sous Les Paves Art Show, Paris; Affordable Art Fair, La Bellevillouise, Paris, and NoonPowell Fine Art, Battersea, London; Rossini Auction House, Paris; Bas’art Art Mecca, Fréjus; Parc de Saint Cloud Auction House, Garches; Artside Art Factory, Strasbourg; Newell Rubbermaid Art Show, Boulogne Billancourt; L'Avant Rue Exhibition Center, Paris.