Helene Mooren was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
She spends her childhood in the Netherlands. Next, she settles in France where she lives at present. On arriving in the South of France, the force of its lights catches her eye. The discovery of that color/light, so new to her, will deeply influence her work afterwards.
She studies Visual Arts at the University in Aix-en-Provence and engraving at the Atelier Lacourière-Frelaut in Paris. In 1977 she passes the D.N.S.E.P. (National Postgraduate Degree in Visual Arts) at the School of Art and Architecture in Marseille. As early as 1978, she distances herself from metal engraving and lithography to dedicate herself to watercolour and acrylic painting.
In her studio, in Aix-en-Provence, she paints 200×160 cm series of canvasses as well as oil pastels on paper.
From 1982, her work appeals to art galleries, notably Galerie Noella Gest, in Saint Rémy de Provence, Galerie Gooijer G.F.A. in Amsterdam and Haarlem, Galerie Leolux in Utrecht and Eindhoven, NETHERLANDS.
She is invited to take part in numerous cultural events, among others, the International Art Show at Toulon Museum, Action-Création 82 in Marseille, the Mostra del Larzac, the Art-Literature-Psychoanalitical Study Meetings and Marseille-Alger at La Vieille Charité in Marseille, Ten painters from the South in La Seyne-sur-Mer Townhall. She also is a founding member of Galerie Cinabre in Marseille (1982-1984).
In Aix-en-Provence she meets the writer Liliane Giraudon, and creates Les Etendoirs (The Banners), paintings based on her poems. Les Etendoirs are exhibited during Liliane Giraudon’s public readings at Théatre National de Chaillot in Paris (1983) and at the Book Fest in Aix-en-Provence. Publications in Banana Split n°16 and Co-Incidences n°9 magazines.
Her interest in associating painting and writing will never fail: group exhibitions Signs Symbols Writings at the Palais des Papes, Salle de Theologie in Avignon, Artist’s Books at Les Arcenaulx in Marseille and the Biennial Event of the Artist’s Book in Uzerche (Corrèze).
In 1988 she moves to Paris. In her studios there, and in L’Aube and L’Yonne, while keeping on painting she extends her research into collages on paper and wood as well as into wood and photographies assemblages.
She is a member of the Taylor Foundation in Paris.
Among the many group exhibitions let us mention: Propos Contemporains sur La Raie de Chardin, in Sauve (Gard), Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, in the Grand Palais, in Paris, Galerie Yan Lung in Périgueux, The International Triennal Exhibition of Prints in Kochi, JAPAN, and in Paris: Galerie Jean-Pierre Harter, Galerie AJL, Galerie Arck, Galerie d’Art et d’Ailleurs, SAGA FIAC of Edition with Galerie Vis-à-Vis, Hotel Sofitel, Porte de Sèvres, and also in La Salle de la Légion d’Honneur in Saint Denis, Galerie Chloé Van Dongen in Troyes (Aube) as well as at the Chetwynd Stapylton Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and the Blue Horse Gallery Bellingham in Washington D.C, U.S.A.
Her work is displayed in personal exhibitions:
in L’Espace Cévé in Voiron (Isère), La Maison du Don Lecourbe in Paris, in 1993 at Gutteridges Architects in Southampton, UK, La Maison du XVIème in Bar-sur-Seine (Aube), and at L’Académie du Bois Joli in Voiron (Isère) .
As well as at the Galerie AJL, Galerie d’Art et d’Ailleurs, and in 2004 at the Galerie Arck, in Paris.
In 2005, La Corderie Royale in Rochefort (Charente-Maritimes) exhibits 60 of her paintings, together with Yeu, unique book with a manuscript by Paul Louis Rossi.
In 2011, she is invited in Belo Horizonte, BRAZIL, for her exhibition A Perte de Vue (As Far as your Eyes Can See) at the Galeria de Arte da Assembleia Législativa.
In 2012, Foundation Obras in Evoramonte, PORTUGAL, presents her exhibition Des Couleurs et des Jours (Colours and Days) following her stay in an artist’s residence there.
In 2015, she is drawn back to the light of the South of France : she settles in Arles.
Group exhibitions: A Vous de Voir (It’s Up to You) at Jardin de Neuville-sur-Vanne (Aube), and Art Attack, in Mc Laughlin Studios in Phoenix, Arizona in the USA.
In 2023 : group exhibition at the Galerie Le Petit Temple in Lasalle, Gard and personal exhibition, with the sculptures of Françoise Subra at the Maison des Arts in Graveson in Provence.
En 2024 La Galerie Du Tableau à Marseille presents her painting “Fictions ouvertes” in a personal exhibition.