How did a lifelong cleaning lady become one of the most beloved painters in French history? In 1905, the voice of the Virgin Mary told orphaned, uneducated maid Seraphine to paint, and she obeyed. Her small French town was on the front line of both world wars, and through it all she painted her kaleidoscopic view. She gave her paintings to everyone in town...who promptly tossed them in the fireplace. She died penniless and unknown, but when a film about her aired on French television a couple years ago, everything changed. Travel with Katie in Senlis for a vivid soundscape of turn-of-the-century France and meet "France's Mona Lisa."
Katie's guest is Alicia Basso Boccabella at the Museums of Senlis.
Music featured in this episode was recorded by Thierry Callen, Kevin MacLeod, and Andrew Huang.
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THE VIKING Coppergate Woman
THE MOTHER Olympias
THE SORCERER Gunnhild
THE FREE WOMAN Harriet Jacobs
THE ROPEMAKER Mary Pattison Irwin
WHITE HOUSE HOLIDAY Mary Donelson Wilcox: 2019 Christmas Special
THE WOMAN IN THE CHALK Cranborne Woman
THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST Sybil Stockdale
THE WITCH Mother Shipton
THE PHARAOH Tawosret
THE PAPER DAUGHTER How Jiu
THE EMPEROR Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian)
THE ADMIRAL Bouboulina
THE FARMER Cherokee America Rogers
THE ORACLE Pythia
THE PSYCHOANALYST Sabina Spielrein
THE POET Hester Pulter
THE GIRL OF IRON Mary Peterson Ipsen
THE TRANSLATOR Malintzin
THE WHITE ROSE Sophie Scholl
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