Orient

Born in Calais, she went to study in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École des Arts Décoratifs. After the First World War, she won several travel grants that allowed her to find her artistic path. She visited Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and especially Tunisia. Single and childless, she traveled alone, a rare occurrence for a woman at that time. These journeys around the Mediterranean inspired her for the rest of her career, and she continually depicted her past travels in her work. A drawing teacher for the city of Paris from 1915 to 1948, she painted numerous historical scenes for her hometown and other towns in the Pas-de-Calais region. She received several awards: the Grand Prix at the École des Arts Décoratifs, the Chenavard Prize, the James Bertrand Prize, and a silver medal in 1920 at the Salon des Artistes Français. Her palette is characterized by warm and vibrant colors, particularly in her historical works. than for Orientalist works.

She participated in the Resistance during the Second World War, having been put in contact with resistance groups by a fellow artist. Jeanne Thil circulated leaflets and underground newspapers and participated in a network producing false documents.

Her great-nephew collected 170 of her works and planned to bequeath this collection to the city of Calais upon his death. In her honor, the street where she lived was renamed after Jeanne Thil.

Recently, her works were featured in two exhibitions: in 2020 at the Calais Museum of Fine Arts: "Paintings from Distant Lands: Landscapes by Jeanne Thil," and in 2023 at the Palais Lumière in Évian and then at the Pont-Aven Museum: "Traveling Artists: The Call of Distant Lands – 1880-1944."