In old age, Gisela Schiel dared to listen to herself – and became an artist called “Kalchie”. Why it’s never too late to live your passion. And what their secret ingredient for success and happiness is.
It’s never too late to live your own passion – and suddenly be successful with it. Gisela Schiel was 85 years old when she had her breakthrough as an artist. Actually, she had long since retired and lived a secluded and content life. The special thing about this old lady is that she never attended an art school, never dealt with artists or styles. In fact, she didn’t want to be a painter at all. But she followed her inner self, dared to do in her old age what she was denied in her youth: express herself creatively.
Now her pictures are admired by people in China, classified by gallery owners in Europe and sold for prices of up to 16,000 euros. “When I paint, I’m a different person,” she says. That’s why her stage name is Kalchie. A composition of her middle name Klara and her surname Schiel.
The mother forbade a creative profession
We can certainly learn a lot from this 86-year-old. There’s a secret ingredient to their success—and their happiness. To do this, she had to take a few detours.
As a teenager, Gisela Schiel wanted to work in the theater and was even offered a scholarship at an art college. A great honor. But her mother forbade this way. She should learn a “real” job. Of course you obeyed your parents back then. Gisela Schiel became a hairdresser. Life’s gifts – and distractions – followed: she married a Swiss man and moved to Basel with him, opened a hair salon, became a mother and from then on was mainly there for her daughters. It was only decades later that she learned to listen to herself completely. And found access to her very own creativity.
“I find it very strange myself that I have this power”
At night, when everyone is asleep, the 86-year-old steps up to the screen. She only paints at night, in the silence and darkness the world is different. While standing at the easel, Kalchie feels neither hunger nor thirst, she perceives nothing but the colors. “It’s amazing. If I do two hours of housework, I’m exhausted afterwards. But when painting, hours can go by without getting tired or getting hurt. I find it very strange myself that I have the strength to stand in front of the canvas for so long .”
Kalchie only stops painting when the picture is finished. There are no breaks, no “I’ll continue tomorrow.” Sometimes the old lady stands at the canvas for seven hours, sometimes she paints non-stop for ten hours. “When the picture is finished, I think: Wow, I painted that?!”
The secret ingredient for the happiness of the 86-year-olds
As she talks about it in the video interview, calmly and calmly, it becomes clear what the secret ingredient for her success might be. For her, creativity is associated with an attitude that many people have forgotten: reverence and humility. She doesn’t boast about this achievement, putting in a ten-hour painting marathon at the age of 86 and selling her pictures at high prices. She only talks about prices when asked. Her attitude towards a successful work is: “I know, I had help.”
help from where? She doesn’t like to talk about that either, because words about such inexplicable things ruin a lot. Some call it the universe, some the spiritual world, others say creativity or the divine. Ultimately, it’s about: Kalchie feels connected to a great power. And she follows.
“I have my own colors in me”
She draws from within herself and does not need any outside influences. This is what impressed gallery owner Nour Nouri of Pashmin Art Galerie Hamburg when he discovered her in 2021. It was he who brought her paintings to the Hong Art Museum in China on the occasion of a European-Chinese cultural exchange.
“I always have my own colors in me,” says Kalchie. She carries a color around inside her for so long, feels it growing until she can’t help but let it out. In the beginning it was only blue, the color of mourning. Because it was the early death of her husband that caused her to devote herself entirely to painting. That kept her alive. She was in her early 50s then.
Get into the flow effortlessly
“When I paint, I don’t see the whole thing. I’m always just where I’m painting at the moment.” Until she senses which other color goes with it. Sounds mystical, it is. Buzzwords associated with her pictures on the Internet are: atmosphere, aura, energy, inspiration.
And the reactions? One buyer said that when he got home, he would sit in front of his Kalchie picture, whiskey in hand, and relax. Another had to write a lecture for which he couldn’t think of anything. Until he sat contemplatively in front of the three huge paintings by Kalchie that hung in his apartment. Suddenly he got into the river.
The flow transfers. Who knows how far he will carry Kalchie through the art world. The modest lady has no big plans to conquer them. “I’m happy when I’m healthy and allowed to paint.”
“Deal with yourself and enjoy what you do”
What does the 86-year-old want to pass on to others who feel restricted by their age or are struggling with retirement? “Everyone has a talent, a hobby, be it knitting or making clay figures.” She smiles a little, her face soft and kind, and says, “Go for a walk in the woods, deal with yourself and enjoy what you do.”