Valérie Pirlot Belgian, Contemporary

Valérie Pirlot is a Belgian-born contemporary oil painter known for capturing the fleeting beauty of everyday life. Working predominantly en plein air and directly from the subject, she paints with speed, confidence and an instinctive feel for colour, light and atmosphere. Born in 1982, Pirlot moved to the UK in 2004 and is now based in Bath. After beginning her career as a graphic designer, she became a full-time artist in 2018. Her paintings retain something of that design sensibility in their strong compositions, but are defined above all by their spontaneity: loose, expressive brushwork, unexpected colour and the feeling of a moment caught before it disappears. Painting largely alla prima, often in a single sitting, Pirlot is drawn to subjects that are constantly changing. Sunlight across a landscape, flowers on a table, figures moving through a crowd or the spectacle of a live event all become opportunities to capture an immediate impression rather than a painstaking record. That sense of energy has also taken her beyond traditional landscape painting. Pirlot has painted at weddings, fairs, performances and festivals, including Giffords Circus and Glastonbury Festival, where she has been invited to work on location and capture its distinctive atmosphere in paint. In 2024, Valérie Pirlot was elected a Full Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. She is also a founding member of the British Plein Air Painters and a member of the Bath Society of Artists. At the heart of Pirlot's work is a fascination with light and the way it can transform even the most familiar subject. Her paintings preserve those brief, easily missed moments, translating them into vibrant contemporary oils that feel immediate, intimate and alive.