Sahara Longes dream of becoming an artist only came true when she gave up on the whole idea.
In the last year, her bold, figurative paintings have seducedthe art worldon multiple continents.
I was a complete weirdo as a child, Longe tells me.
FIGURE IT OUTBad Dreams (after Ferdinand Hodler),2023. oil on linen, 225 x 200 cm.
Sahara, a dark-haired beauty with an infectious smile, is at the farmhouse in Sussex.
She has a studio in the big, old threshing barn, with a stone floor and arching beams.
Sahara Longe in her studio in Sussex, England, November 2023.
Sahara Longe in her studio in Sussex, England, November 2023. Ollo Weguelin © Sahara Longe.
Ollo Weguelin Sahara Longe.
She shows me some of the paintings in progress.
The figures are semiabstractfacial features are not detailed but subtly suggested, when the head is not turned away.
Under the Sea,2023. oil on linen, 60 x 65 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Timothy Taylor © Sahara Longe.
Their flat, blocky simplicity reminds me of paintings by John Wesley, whom shes never heard of.
I love painting the female nude far more than the male, she says.
(The men in her paintings are clothed.)
Its the most satisfying thing you’re able to paint.
I was just obsessed with it as a child.
Her passion for portraiture took hold in those galleries, which she visited over and over again.
Her all-girls school in Berkshire had an excellent art department.
She did well in school and got high grades.
This made her think that she should pursue the academic route, rather than going to art school.
After graduating, she took a year off, though, spending five months in Sierra Leone.
She also hung out at the family farm in Sussex.
When the year was up, she enrolled at Bristol University to study art history.
I didnt know what I was doing, she tells me.
I was very lost.
Cecil, 78, is world-renowned in the classical Renaissance tradition and still runs the school.
She thought, That sounds like a great idea, like life-drawing on steroids.
Do you usually eavesdrop on people in cafes?
All the time, she says, laughing.
Longe spent four years at the atelier, which encouraged students to stay as long as they wanted.
She spent the first year just using charcoal, doing cast drawings, and the next year painting.
I wasnt very good at it.
I really struggled and it was a lot of hard work, but great academic training.
It felt like Id traveled back in time.
She learned virtually no Italian.
One of her classmates there, who was from California, became her boyfriend.
After Florence, she went to Sierra Leone.
I was painting lots of people in Sierra Leone, and enjoying it, she says.
And I was like, Oh, God, this is really hard.
I dont know if I want to paint any more.
She stopped for six or seven months.
I sort of lost my mojo.
I realized I couldnt be a classical portrait painter, because I wasnt good enough.
My dad is always saying, Can you stop telling everyone youre so bad at painting?
She also took up painting again, but as a hobby, just for fun.
I started doing what I wanted to do, she says.
I realized I could paint whatever I liked and not just do portrait commissions.
This was the turning pointwhen Longe became an artist.
It became really exciting and I loved it.
She posted one of her new, more colorful paintings on Instagram.
Thats where it started, she says.
oil on linen, 60 x 65 cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Timothy Taylor Sahara Longe.
(Bert had been studying Florentine tailoring.)
When shes in London, they often go for an evening drive, looking at historical sites.
(We saw Vivienne Westwoods house the other night.)
Back at the farm, shes trying to teach herself how to bake doughnuts.
I feel so sorry for them because theyre still alive.
The work in her New York show is more brushstroke-y and impressionistic than in her last.
Theres always something new, and I love that about it.
I dont know what Im going to do next year, or the year after.
Her confidence is so high that she even accepted a portrait commission.
