Magali Brueder transports us to the hilly wilderness in her experimental artworks

There is no questioning that the French artist and designer Magali Brueder is exceptionally talented. Her evocative paintings have the power to whisk us away from yellow-lit office interiors or cozy bedsheets in the depths of winter, transporting us to the wilderness of the French countryside. Applying soft, peachy colours to dusky European mountains, seas and skies, Magali’s paintings are so beautiful, they make us ooze with ASMR-like tingly feelings.

“Drawing has always been part of my life,” says the Paris-based creative. Particularly sensitive to each visual component that goes into an image, Magali pays close attention typography, the editorial angle, colour and of course composition before starting an artwork. After graduating from Strasbourg’s l’École des Arts Décoratifs, Magali ventured on a career in graphic design. But when she didn’t have a project on, she turned to drawing.

“I love printmaking and screen printing,” says the illustrator, “but the processes are often too complicated and expensive so I tried using Risograph printing for my drawings.” Satisfied with the results, Magali opened an online shop which, to this day, provides a “pleasant and important alternative to freelance design work.”

Drawn to places with a hilly landscape as it provides plenty of compositional contours, along with a variety of colour, light and texture, Magali beautifully expresses the feeling of a place through each of these elements. “I also like to play with the limitations of abstraction,” she says on her experimental woks. She often uses the surrounding scenery as a pretext for experimentation, challenging herself to see how far she can go in terms of abstraction while still ensuring the landscape is still somewhat recognisable.

Following her instinct with every painting, for Magali, each artwork is a representation of the artistic constraints she’s set herself. Twisting the surrounding scenery in her own unique style, Magali’s inspiration comes whole-heartedly from the airy terrain around her which then fills the canvas in front of her. “I am more and more influenced by painting,” she tells It’s Nice That. Recently visiting a Monet exhibition in Giverny, Magali specifically noted the beautiful pink skies reflected on the water; a visual trait often seen in her own work too. Also influenced by the fauvist and nabis movement, not to mention a number of photographers, Magali’s favourite places in the world are art libraries or the colourful shops of good museums. As well as spending as much time as possible in such places in Paris, the artist also hopes to exhibit internationally, collaborate with her loved ones and continue to pursue her personal projects in the years to come.