For over three decades, artist Vivian Borsani has called Mallorca home. With a rich multicultural background spanning Brazil, France and Europe, her paintings radiate colour, movement and emotion, capturing the essence of Mediterranean life through an intuitive and deeply personal visual language. In this interview, she reflects on her artistic universe, the influence of Mallorca, and the joy that continues to guide her work.

How would you describe your artistic universe to someone discovering your work for the first time? What emotions, themes, or ideas are you hoping people experience when they stand in front of your paintings?

My paintings have accompanied me through every phase of my life. They speak of my passions, desires, visions and the quiet gratitude of being alive. At their heart, they are a celebration, of colour, emotion and of Mallorca, whose nature I deeply adore.

Whether I begin with flowers, trees, fish or the sea, the subjects often dissolve into one another and become part of a vibrant composition. I work intuitively; as I paint, a piece frequently moves towards abstraction, and I simply follow where it wants to go. The result is an expression of joy and discovery, a visual diary of place, memory and feeling.

Above all, I hope viewers are drawn into the emotion each painting reveals and that they fall a little in love with it.

In what ways has Mallorca, and perhaps the Mediterranean itself, influenced your work? Do the island’s light, colours, textures or rhythms consciously appear in your paintings, or is the influence more intuitive?

Mallorca, my home, shapes everything I paint. Its light, landscapes and rhythms lived within me long before they appeared on canvas. As a young artist, I constantly sketched villages, mountains, almond-tree fields and coastlines because everything around me felt paintable.

Over time, those observations became internalised. Today, the island’s brightness, its mountains and the sea exist in my work more as memory and sensation than as direct representation. I don’t paint specific views; instead, I translate accumulated feelings into colour, form and movement. Mallorca’s light becomes my palette, its shapes become gestures, and the resulting paintings are driven by emotion rather than depiction.

How long have you been living on Mallorca, and what originally brought you here? Was there a particular moment that made you decide this island was where you wanted to live and create?

Mallorca has been my home for more than 30 years, although my connection to the island began much earlier. I first came here when I was 13, and because my parents moved to Mallorca in 1985, it always felt like home, even while I was studying and working abroad.

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil, to Lithuanian and German parents, and I was raised mostly in France, spending holidays on the island. Later, while studying in Paris, I continued to feel drawn back to Mallorca.

The decisive moment came when I had my daughters. I wanted them to grow up surrounded by nature, with the freedom of the sea and the outdoors. Around the same time, a German gallerist in Port d’Andratx offered to exhibit my work, making the decision feel both personally and professionally right.

My artistic education took me from École Graphique Penninghen and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris to the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Yet Mallorca remained the place where everything came together.

What is perhaps most visible in my work is the influence of Brazil. My colourful palette certainly doesn’t reflect the more restrained tones often associated with Northern Europe. The exuberance, warmth and energy of Brazilian culture continue to resonate strongly in my paintings. Combined with the Mediterranean light of Mallorca and my European artistic training, these influences have helped shape a visual language that feels both personal and universal.

Who tends to connect most strongly with your art? What kinds of collectors are usually drawn to your paintings, and why do you think they resonate with them?

Many of my collectors have a second home in Mallorca. They often discover a painting while visiting the island, fall in love with it, and then take a piece of Mallorca back home with them. Many return over the years and become long-term collectors.

I also work closely with interior designers who enjoy introducing a vibrant burst of colour into spaces dominated by beige, taupe and grey tones. My paintings bring warmth, energy and personality to contemporary interiors.

Another important group of clients are yacht owners, who often commission works in custom sizes specifically designed for their boats. I enjoy creating these bespoke pieces and adapting my work to unique spaces.

What I find especially touching is that young couples often choose one of my paintings for their first home together. They tell me they are drawn to the joie de vivre and positive energy in the work. I think that sense of optimism is what connects many different collectors, regardless of where they come from.

What does a typical day in your studio look like on Mallorca?

My days begin early. I love the tranquility of Santa Catalina in the morning, and by 8:30, with a cup of tea in hand, I am already preparing canvases and getting ready to paint.

Music is essential to my process. I usually start the day by putting on music, dancing a little, and then moving between several paintings at once. I almost always have two or three works in progress, allowing ideas and energy to flow from one canvas to another.

After about three hours of painting, I take a short break and enjoy a tea at Perritos Café before returning to the studio. The rest of the day unfolds much like the paintings themselves, intuitively, guided by colour, movement and whatever new discoveries emerge on the canvas.