Do you think Maud's work as an artist affects the way she sees the world?

Do you think Maud's work as an artist affects the way she sees the world? Do you think this is reflected in the writing?

Maud's character developed with the story. My understanding is that Maud was too introverted to really notice anything around her. She saw things through a restrictive prism until much later into the story...

I think she sees it as very simple, she is trying to get an education and survive living in Paris with little resources

Yes, there are many scenes where Maud looks at a streetscape, or a person, or out of a window, and she sees it in terms of color and line... She looks at her everyday world visually as well as emotionally. I thought the author did a great job of conveying her artist's eye in that way -- and, in the 'catalog' descriptions of what we later find out are Maud's paintings, we see that she has learned to bring this to her work.

She sees the world with an artist's perspective. At first, there was a simplicity in her perspective; then, as her life and experiences evolved, her perspective became more complex and realistic.

I do think creative people look at the world differently. Maud was no exception to the artist way she saw the world.

Yes. I think she always had that "artist eye" but was never able to express it until she was exposed to all the experiences that opened her up and gave her the courage and strength to see things differently. I also think that if you are immersed in the art world like she was, it does change the way you see people, surroundings, basically everything!

My mother was a painter and I know that she did see things, physical things, differently than some. I, think too, that because of her painting she taught me to see things that would have escaped me before. I'm not sure that being an artist would change the behavior of a person...or make them something they weren't already.

Definitely. Whatever one spends a lot o time at tends to shape how they see the world. Artists deconstruct, musicians are more sensitive to sounds, police and psychologists to behavior, etc.

For sure! I found myself wishing that there could have been paintings dispersed throughout the book instead of just descriptions - I think that would have added a lot to the overall story! And I would have loved to see illustrations and how they varied from the beginning of the book to the end.