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Saint-Paul (de Vence), South of France

She is Zita Landy. A painter for all her long life. And an ageless lover of life.
She was born in Vienna in 1919 in a Jew family, from a diamond cutter father and an opera singer mother.
She was the student of Oskar Kokoschka -the great Austrian expressionist artist, considered as one of the great trio of Viennese artists with Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.
Before she was 20, she ran away to Zurich to join her lover and escape the dangers of pre world-war II.
Later, she would take her life to New York, Hollywood and finally Saint Paul (de Vence), where she filled her life with painting, friends, her second husband, beauty, optimism, and happiness.

Saint Paul has been home for a great number of artists and is considered the 'city of arts' of the French Riviera.

I took this picture of Zita at the opening of her last exhibition, last April. Beyond the surface wrinkles of her wonderful face, she seemed younger than ever, and her eyes ignited with light. She was so excited to promote her latest work as a reminder to keep life on the right track, with a candid 'Make Love, Not War' creation.

Zita lives in the house next to my mother's house. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can see that her workshop's light is still on. She did not go to sleep and is probably preparing the sketch of a new creation.