After taking up painting aged in her 50s, Patricia France created a unique body of figurative painting. France grew up in various locations in the North Island and had thought to pursue medicine at university.

In 1928, after finishing her schooling at Auckland Diocesan School for Girls, France travelled with her mother and aunt to Europe where they visited art galleries, museums and chateaux in Italy, Sicily, France, Switzerland, Holland and Germany. She enrolled and studied in Paris at the recently established branch of the New York School of Interior Design.

In 1931 the trio returned to Auckland and for many years thereafter Patricia's life was devoted solely to caring for her aging mother and aunts and to voluntary social work, including four years during World War II as a St John Voluntary Aid at the Ellerslie Racecourse Military Hospital.

After her mother's death France suffered from depression and following a nervous breakdown, was admitted to Ashburn Hall, a private psychiatric hospital in Dunedin.

During the seven years she spent at Ashburn Hall as a voluntary boarder she became a close friend of Dr. Denford, her psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Dr. Denford encouraged her to rekindle the artistic endeavours of her younger days and to "paint out the past" through art therapy.

During this time France developed a close friendship with artist and critic Rodney Kennedy, who introduced her to a wide circle of artists and writers including Colin McCahon, Toss Woollaston, Ralph Hotere and younger painters, in particular Jeffrey Harris.

Her early works were abstract but as her style evolved the interconnections between people and their environment became a theme she frequently explored. Her skill as an artist enabled her to express with just a few deft brushstrokes, the complexities of human relationships. France also produced many flower studies - the vibrant colours and painterly treatment of the medium seen in these works suggest the influence of the Impressionists and Odilon Redon.