Born on 12 August 1992, Sophia Fassi lives and works in Paris.

She graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2020, where she studied with Dominique Gauthier and then François Boisrond. During her apprenticeship, she developed a particular interest in drawing with teacher James Bloedé. She was also fascinated by the history of art taught by François René Martin.

The Louvre became her second school, and she took great pleasure in copying the ancients, such as Titian and Poussin. In her paintings, she draws particular inspiration from the compositions of Delacroix, Manet and Courbet, which she reinterprets very freely with topical subjects:

Five Women, 2022

Monika. Rue de Suffren, 2023

Lined up in rows down the middle, Sophia Fassi's paintings are like character studies. Caught in the act, as if frozen in action, her subjects are worked from photographs.
Whether she takes the photo herself or recovers it, whether it's of someone close to her or someone she doesn't know, it's first and foremost the expressions that interest her, the postures, the ways of being. The decisive moment, so dear to Henri Cartier-Bresson, characterises the artist's research; ready to seize the moment when a physiognomy reveals itself, whether in sleep, anger, doubt...

Using strong features and contrasts, which are also found in Lucian Freud's work, she dramatises and transforms her models into characters. Using tight framing and dynamic compositions, Sophia Fassi extracts her models from their ordinary lives. By showing their intimacy in the form of mimicry, she also highlights their moods and melancholy, all in half-tone.