Catherine Schuon

Catherine Schuon was born in 1924 in Bern, Switzerland. As the daughter of a career Swiss diplomat, she traveled a great deal and was exposed to many cultures, particularly in Europe, North Africa, and South America. She spent her early school years in pre-war Berlin where her father was the First Secretary at the Swiss embassy in Berlin, before returning to Switzerland when she was six years old.

Catherine lived in Switzerland until she was thirteen. During that time, her interest and skill in painting grew. she took painting and art classes in school and excelled at her artwork. Catherine’s grandmother was a gifted painter and took her into nature to paint landscapes and flowers; the young Catherine always enjoyed painting animals, too. Her stepfather painted in watercolors, and he also encouraged Catherine to paint. Her mother was a nurse in the mountain hospital near St Moritz, and Catherine would take her sketchbook and pencil into the mountains to draw the animals she saw, including the cows and mules that were carrying milk. She also enjoyed drawing her younger brother and two sisters. And, whenever she would write letters to family and friends, she would draw illustrations along with the words in the letters.

When Catherine was thirteen, she and her family moved to Algiers, in Algeria, where her stepfather was an engineer. At that time Algeria was considered a part of France. She learned French and had her first contact with the Islamic civilization. She then returned to Switzerland during World War II, where she studied languages and helped to care for refugee children. Just as World War II ended, she joined her father, who had been named Swiss Ambassador to Argentina. While in Argentina, she learned Spanish and developed further her gift for painting, especially in watercolors. She enjoyed spending her time painting horses and landscapes as well as the ocean and the “gauchos” (cowboys).

From Argentina, Catherine moved back to Switzerland again with her family. To expand her artistic skills, Catherine worked as a ceramist with Italian artists and decorated plates and vases. In 1949, she married the famous writer on religion, Frithjof Schuon, and together they took many trips to places around the world, including trips to visit their many American Indian friends such as Thomas Yellowtail, the Crow Sun Dance Chief and Medicine Man.

With her gift for languages, Catherine helped her husband answer his correspondence from his many admirers across the globe for many years. He also encouraged her to start painting again, which she did in 1967; however, she now decided to work in oil paints as he did. Inspired by his writings and artwork, she began painting scenes from various religions, as well as the life of the Blessed Virgin. Among these are the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Flight into Egypt.