Olesya Eder

Name of artist: Olesya Eder
Year of birth: 08.10.1982
Where do you live: in Vienna, Austria
Your education: BA in International Development Studies, Vienna University
Describe your art in three words: Impression, inspiration, imagination

What inspired you to focus your artistic work on the ballet “Jean d´Arc”?

My daughter Ilina Eder (10.02.2004), a young choreographer, a ballet dancer and creator of her first neo-classical ballet masterpiece, dedicated to the historical figure Jeanne d´Arc, inspired me to paint several acrylic pictures especially for this ballet fragments.
Once, in July 2022 Ilina and me traveled to Paris, where we visited the Louvre Museum, where we both were very impressed by the painting „Joan of Arc at the coronation of King Charles VII“ by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1854). We were also admired from the golden statue of Joan of Arc by E. Fremiet ,which was located on the Place des Pyramides. From that time on Ilina had the idea that I draw my own pictures dedicated to the ballet „Jean d´Arc“ choreographed by Ilina Eder.
I am inspired mother who was impressed from this idea and since that I decided to realise this visual project „Jeanne d´Arc“ for my daughter Ilina Eder.
The Ballet „Jeanne d´Arc“ choreographed by Ilina Eder will be peformed on the 09th of August 2025 in the Burg Perchtoldsdorf in Austria. There I will make a Vernissage of my pictures dedicated to this Ballet „Jean d´Arc“.

How does being a mother influence your creative process, particularly with your daughter Ilina Eder’s choreography?

Well, the motherhood plays a huge role in developing yourself as a person. It helped me become even more creative.
In the process of the choreographing a ballet piece, my daughter Ilina expresses emotions, feelings, emphasized the character of the heroes on stage. And during the drawing process, I seem to be on the same wavelenght with my daughter, immersing myself in the process of creation, where new art ideas unexpectedly arise, thanks to inspiration.
Ilina plays the main role of Jeanne herself in her ballet. There is one ballet pose in the Jean´s role, which impressed me very much,so that I wanted to paint exactly this pose, where she is dancing in pointe shoes and playing the role of Jeanne as deep-thinking, stuggling, worrying, lyrical, inspired by faith and dramatic. That´s how I painted the image of Jeanne, taking Ilina`s stage pose and gave the title of my acrylic picture „Jeanne´s Deepness of Thoughts“.

Olesya Eder | Jeanne´s Deepness of Thoughts | 2025

In your series dedicated to “Jeanne d´Arc,” how do you interpret the themes of courage and heroism through visual art?

I painted my acrylic picture „The Hero Maiden Joan of Arc of Orleans“ imagining Jean d´ Arc riding a horse, dressed in men´s armor and holding a flag in her hand, because the key moment of her feat was the siege of Orleans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years´ War.

Could you describe the emotional connection you feel when painting scenes inspired by Ilina’s ballet?

The emotional connection between ballet and drawing is very close and interacts. For example, I was inspired by Ilina`s ballet scene where she choreographed a role for the young little girl-child, who will play and dance as Jeanne. I painted a picture „Jeanne d´Arc as a Child in Domremy-the Place of Birth“. I Imagined and painted how a young pisant little girl Jeanne was looking from the window, watching the lavender bloom, hearing the birds singing and trusting that she was guided by visions. Helm on the roof of her house is a symbol that she will have to become a hero of her time.

Olesya Eder | The Hero Maiden Joan of Arc of Orleans | 2024

Your artwork blends themes of classical ballet with powerful historical figures. How do you bridge the gap between these two elements?

I bridged the gap to focuse on a story, imagination and inspiration to show connection with scenes of my daughter´s ballet choreography.
For example, Ilina choreographed the ballet scene where the personality of Jeanne was struggling between angel and devil, between light and dark sides when Jeanne having been captured by the English, where Jeanne had strange visions and in the ballet she danced between light and dark sides to chose the light one. I had an idea to depict this scene on canvas to create the picture with two birds from white and black feathers and between them there is a line made from a tree branch.

In your opinion, what is the significance of painting Jeanne d´Arc, a figure so deeply ingrained in history, through a personal and artistic lens?

I was impressed to paint and to connect the pictures with the ballet choreography scenes. In the modern world we could only imagine how Jeanne d´Arc was, how many trials did this young girl have to go through, who became from the simple village – girl a legendary leader, who was guided by her visions, led the french army to the victory, but later was captured, accused in witchcraft and the crime of dressing the man´s clothes and she was burned at the stake. Centures later, Jeanne d´Arc became a symbol of courage und bravery.
I painted a picture where there is a young girl climbed out the clock face and got stuck there. I gave the title of this picture „Zeitgeist“ with the meaning that Jeanne d´Arc became the Hero of her Time, her Epoch.

What role do color and texture play in conveying the emotions you intend to express in your paintings?

I draw using acrylic paints, with pleasure, enthusiasm, happiness and joy because acrylic colors are vibrant. I can express ideas in colors and at the end to have an interesting result that I didn`t even expect.
To the ballet „Jeann d´Arc“ I painted acrylic picture on Canva „Theater Masks“, which conveying different kind of emotions at the same time when you want to interpret this picture. The masks symbolize laughing and crying, tragedy and comedy, theater, transformation, identity, spirits and characters.