The American artist Paulette Van Roekens was born in farmhouse outside of Château-Thierry, France late New Year's Eve 1895.
At a young age, she emigrated to the United States with her parents, Victor (a horticulturalist) and Jeanne van Roekens, to reside in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
She also attended classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and studied sculpture at the Graphic Sketch Club of Philadelphia.
They each had a studio in the family home, but painted subjects from New York as well as outdoor scenes from excursions to Europe.
She called herself a “sometimes impressionist” because while she was strongly influenced by impressionism she found it difficult to completely break with academic drawing.