Marthe Brilman was a talented drawer already as a child and knew as early as age 6 that she would become a painter. When she was 11, her work was exhibited next to that of her cousin who is a recipient of the Rome Prize! Unsurprisingly, Marthe Brilman became a student of the famous École des Beaux-Arts, School of Fine Arts, where she studied from 1958 to 1962.
Katia Granoff, a well-known art dealer, writer and poet who revived Monet’s famous Water Lilies, featured Marthe Brilman’s work permanently in all of her several art galleries from 1972 to 1990. Katia Granoff sold Marther Brilman's paintings to art collectors worldwide and mentioned her in her memoirs. Since then, Marthe Brilman has exhibited her own work from time to time and is selling her art from her art studio in Paris.
In addition to the seascapes and landscapes from all around the world, Marthe Brilman paints still live subjects. Some of them are oversized which gives the genre a modern twist. Her technique is very unique. Marthe Brilman paints with a filling knife but leaves no relief on the canvas.
Katia Granoff and other art critics have described her unique style. In her book Mémoires – Chemin de ronde, Katia Granoff writes:
“How to define the indefinable, to suggest shapes in fleeting light? How to escape from contingencies to create an enchanted world? Ask Marthe Brilman (…) her harmonies of faded shades are not limited to black lines, and yet these shapes are self-sufficient and define themselves in space. Regardless of the subject matter, she turns it into a song, which penetrates the soul and exhilarates it deliciously."
In his book Les signes du temps et l’art moderne, René Huyghe from the Académie Française writes:
“The abandoned barge. This pattern of the useless, abandoned barge, appears like a leitmotiv in multiple pieces devoted to the evocation of loneliness… The abandoned barge floats on a water mirror which only reflects an empty sky.”