Cécile Martin-Houlgatte grew up in a family animated by art. After graduating of l’École du Louvre and of History of Contemporary arts at the University of la Sorbonne in Paris , she then studied Religious Sciences at the Pontifical University the Atheneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome and Sciences of Education in the Anahuac University in Mexico. She is currently studying Theology of the Arts at the Catholic Institute in Paris.
As a teenager, Cécile had already taken part in a group exhibition and her vocation as an artist was born. After her studies, she devoted her life to the mission, accompanying families, young people, adults, and artists, which led her to travel to many countries.
It was during her mission in New York that her taste for creativity developed: she was invited to participate in a charity gala, where she exhibited her first painting Sacré-Cœur. She then received commissions from from people of the Finance world , of the health sector and in the family Ministry, who were sensitive of the positive impact of Arts at the service of the person. It is to respond to this requests that she developed the series of paintings Sacré-Cœur, le Don, Peace et Danses, some of which are used in support of mental and family therapy.
Deeply motivated by the hope that her work can be a message of encouragement, peace, interiorization, even a reminder that God is love, that he is beauty, truth and goodness, she was able to find, at the heart of her daily mission, a few moments to make room for her passion for art.
Cécile explains : “ When I hear that a person who suffers a deep depression says that she finds peace in one of my painting she placed in her house, this encourages me to find time to paint… When I remember that some of my paintings of the Sacred Heart are in the office of a President of a company in Manhattan and in the apartment of a couple in Wallstreet I can only thank God for what HE is doing…When I see “the Gift” that evokes surrender and abandonment is in the office of a Harvard NeuroBiologist and that her patients and coworkers are touched in some ways by this work , I deeply praise and thank God …, and I ask Him to use me as his pencil if He wishes.”
Currently , Cécile who lives in Rome and in Paris, keeps on walking in the art field as an artist, painting and taking photographies of moments of Beauty, of Truth and of Goodness that she captures in her daily life. She also gives testimonies and conferences that related to art and spirituality . She accompanies spiritually artistes and persons who work in the art sector.