Séraphine de Senlis was an extraordinary figure in French art. This visionary self-taught ‘primitive’, a cleaner by profession, was possessed of an intense spirituality that produced paintings of a mesmerising intensity. She was fêted by the critics, but she was also patronised by a society that regarded her as a freakish novelty, or ‘outsider’. Yolande Moreau excels in revealing the transcendent achievement of her life and art in this very highly recommended biography.