Childhood and early years

Born in Boston on Armistice Day, Gilbertson was the eldest of four children and the only daughter in her family. Her father was a Methodist minister in the neighborhood of Roslindale, Boston, Massachusetts, where her family resided. As a child, her family lived primarily in Roslindale and spent their summers on Cape Cod at their summer residence.

Post WWII, Paris and the GI Bill (1946 - 1951)

Gilbertson enlisted in the Armed Forces during WWII as a psychiatric social worker, stationed on Long Island, New York and in Georgia. After the war, she had access to the G.I. Bill of Rights, as did many of the war veterans of her generation. Charlotte used it to promote her education. She graduated from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts in 1948 and then moved to New York to be among notable artists. New York City was brimming over with abstract expressionist painters at the time, but she was more interested in "constructive design" not found in America. Charlotte wanted to develop a stronger sense of "design" in her work, to engage "the new" and "the modern".

In 1949, Gilbertson went to Paris on an artistic quest, fascinated by Cézanne's rendering of the Provençal apple. She studied "le dessin" under the French artist Fernand Léger at his Paris atelier. She found a master in Léger. (He jokingly referred to her as "la petite marine", or "the little sailor", because she wore dungarees, which was unusual for a woman at the time).

The New York years (1951–1979)

Once she had begun to master a sense of color, space, and design on a canvas, she returned to New York City in 1951, where she lived for several years. Charlotte Gilbertson found employment in an array of diverse positions to sustain herself in New York City.

During the winters, she worked; during the summers, she painted. This seasonal cycle of employment and painting lasted from 1951 to 1974 and again from 1977 to 1979. From 1962 to 1974, Charlotte most notably worked as an assistant director and, later, as director of the Alexander Iolas Gallery in New York City. Through the Iolas Gallery, Charlotte met and befriended Andy Warhol and appeared in Warhol's film, Kiss.

World travel and travels, interrupted

In 1976, Gilbertson took a polar route around the world, following the sun, and spent over a year traveling the world, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Bali, Burma, India, Nepal, the Middle East, Turkey and Greece. She also revisited much of Europe, including a special trip to the North Cape and a tour of Finland, Sweden and Norway. The Japanese use of iridescent colors and the mountain landscapes of Japan and Bali influenced her paintings during this time. Her excursions were curtailed in 1980, when she stopped them to care for her elderly parents until they died.

World travels resumed, new artistic influences

In 1990, Gilbertson resumed her travels to many other countries, including Belize and Tikal. She also spent a considerable amount of time in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia, as well as Bali, India and Nepal. Her explorations in Nepal included treks of the Annapurna Circuit and safaris by an elephant in Nepal's Chitwan National Park.

She spent time in Tibet, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, ending her journeys in Western Europe with extended time in Paris and London before returning home. Her travels in South Asia significantly influenced her artwork from then onward. In particular, many of her paintings in the 1990s featured neo-Primitivist representations of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Later years

Gilbertson continued as an active painter, working with mixed media and doing small works on paper and canvas. She did a number of line drawings and several series of works on paper. She completed a series of work on her memory-impressions of Papua New Guinea, 50" x 72". She also completed a series of work on wood panels, employing gold leaf and other mixed media.