Istanbul through the eyes of a French artist

Turkish Daily News

March 28, 2007 Wednesday

Istanbul gives inspiration to French painter and sculptor Nicole Deleuze, who has been living in Istanbul for six years. Deleuze is most fascinated by the city’s unique natural beauty including its different voices, smells and changing mood.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Deleuze said she loved Turkey and Istanbul so much and that the Bosporus gave a breath to the city. « Istanbul is a great and big city, the voices, smells and changing mood of which affect me most. It is a living city. I began to feel as if I am at home from the very first moment since I came to this city. I am thus determined to live in Turkey, » said Deleuze.

Noting that there was a tremendous development in Istanbul since 2001 in which she came to the city, she said this development wasn’t solely related to the social life but also the art life including theater. She can speak Turkish but although she can’t fully understand Turkish, she likes to go theaters.

She said a restoration period kicked off in Istanbul instead of destroying and rebuilding the structures. « While I am wandering through the city, the restored structures capture attentions with their beauty and difference, » she noted.

Deleuze studied architecture in France and has worked in this field for a long time. « I can thus see the things in a more objective and three-dimensional way. That’s why I first created my paintings and the sculptors then came as a natural outcome of this art, » she explained.

She also opened a painting sculpture exhibition titled « Enough is Enough » in Istanbul as a result of her friends’ insistence.