Revealing the beauty within the walls
- Lillia revives historic walls with luminous frescoes
- She also makes contemporary pieces and street art
- Her practice is based on layering texture, colour and light
Lillia Baudo is a French fresco artist who holds the prestigious title of Master of Artisanal Art. A gifted artist since childhood, Lillia obtained a degree in visual art and practised oil painting, pastel and watercolour, before discovering fresco in 2000. She realised that fresco brought together all her favourite elements of applied art, and as such Lillia pursued a diploma in decorative painting at the Jean Sablé School of Art in Versailles and studied with numerous fresco artists. Her career has so far included creations and collaborations at the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, as well as restorations at the Samaritaine and Notre Dame Cathedral, among others. Lillia is part of a master artisan collective at the Potager du Dauphin, just outside Paris.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
Fresco painting dates back to the Middle Ages, when Italian artists sought to decorate the interiors of churches and homes. The magic of fresco is its luminosity. The technique of painting on fresh, wet plaster lends an incomparable luminescence and depth, almost like looking through a window.
I feel honoured to let the history and soul of these spaces guide me. The painting must be completed while the plaster is still wet, so I am forced to be fully focused in the moment. The best compliment I have received was that as I worked, I appeared to be gradually revealing something that was already on the wall.
I see it as more relevant than ever. In this digital age, fresco offers a texture and solidity that cannot be reproduced in digital artforms. I also see parallels with street art. During Covid, I did a fresco mural alongside graffiti muralists working with spray paint—all of us creating living art in the moment.
I offer master classes in fresco, and I teach art classes at Plessis-Robinson Art House. The raw materials are basic: lime, marble powder and natural pigment, and the skill is all in the nuances. Once you start painting, there are no pauses and no do-overs.
