Susannah Carson is an artist and writer who explores the power of story through richly layered oil paintings. Drawing on her background in art, history, and literature, she creates timeless, romantic portraits that reimagine history and narrative with a fresh perspective—often incorporating antique gilt frames, china, and her signature “lover’s eyes.”

Susannah holds a Ph.D. in French literature from Yale University, where she studied with Harold Bloom and Peter Brooks, as well as advanced degrees from Paris IV, Lyon II, and San Francisco State University, with additional graduate studies in the philosophy of language. She is the author-editor of Living with Shakespeare (Penguin) and Why We Read Jane Austen (Random House), and the author of The Eye Art Book.

Her paintings have been acquired for private collections, exhibited at Bergdorf Goodman and the Liz Lidgett Gallery, and featured through Artfully Walls and Anthropologie. Her work has appeared in Colossal, My Modern Met, Antiques & the Arts Weekly, Tatler, and Where Women Create, and in the reference books Lover’s Eyes: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection and Phaidon’s The Jewelry Book.

Originally from the U.S., Susannah has lived in Paris, Lyon, London, New Haven, San Francisco, and West Hollywood. She now lives and works in the Napa Valley, California, with her husband and their beloved dogs.

Lover's Eye No. 3261

Lover's Eye No. 3261