Sabrina Di Castello (b. 1990, Vienna, Austria) is a contemporary painter based in Nice, France. Her work explores the borderland between abstraction and floral symbolism, balancing gestural intensity with atmospheric calm. Through oil, impasto textures, and layered movements, she creates paintings that oscillate between clarity and dissolution, fragility and strength.

 

Her artistic journey began eight years ago in an unexpected way. Having never painted before, and without any formal training or intention of pursuing art, she turned to painting during a period of deep personal crisis. What started as a spontaneous act became a transformative necessity. The process of layering paint, of finding form within chaos, gradually reshaped her life. Painting moved from being a private refuge to becoming the very center of her existence. As a self-taught artist, Di Castello developed her own visual language independently, guided by instinct rather than convention.

 

Her ongoing series Where the Flowers Grew marks a turning point in this journey. The works are not literal depictions of flowers but symbolic fragments – traces of memory, transformation, and resilience. The floral gestures emerge from veils of color, suspended between dissolution and emergence. They suggest that beauty is inseparable from fragility, and that growth often comes from what first appears broken.

 

The physicality of her process is central. Thick impasto layers, sweeping movements, and moments of deliberate release coexist on the surface. Accidental marks are allowed to remain as part of the narrative. This balance between control and surrender creates immediacy, yet leaves the work open, inviting viewers into spaces of personal resonance and interpretation.

 

In recent years, Di Castello’s work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations in Vienna, Berlin, London, Shanghai, and New York. Her paintings are held in private collections across Europe, and she is currently preparing for upcoming exhibitions in Milan and along the Côte d’Azur.

 

At the heart of her practice lies the belief that painting can be both mirror and transformation: a reflection of lived experience and a space where vulnerability and strength coexist. What began as an unplanned step into the unknown has become a lifelong path – one that continues to expand in depth, reach, and resonance.