Biography

Jean-Louis Senatus was born on August 16, 1949 in Leogane, Haiti. In 1969 he began to paint and draw independently and soon enrolled in the Institute Lope de Vega, in Port-au-Prince. His teachers there were Rene Exume and Gerard Jolicoeur, who also taught at the Foyer des Artes Plastiques. A major turning point for Senatus came in 1973 when he met a Greek artist named Scodilis who was in Haiti for several months on leave from his job as art professor in New York City. Under the influence of Scodilis, Senatus refined his style and began using soft, luminous colors . His canvases became populated with slender, flowerlike figures going about their daily tasks in a dreamscape world.

He lives with his wife and children, dividing his time between Port-au-Prince and
the idyllic Southern village of Port Salut.