Richarme was born on January 24, 1904, in Canton, China, and from her very earliest childhood was introduced to drawing and painting by her mother, a graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Geneva. Later, Colette took evening classes at the School of Fine Arts in Lyons and attended a school where she learnt how to draw on fabric.

After her youth in Savoy (Albertville and Annecy), where she created a lot of watercolours and gouache paintings, she moved to Paris, where she took classes at the studios of the painters of the Grande Chaumière Academy (Charles Blanc, Yves Brayer, Met de Penninghen, Darna), and at the National School of Fine Arts (Robert Cami). At that period her correspondence with the sculptor Louise Bourgeois began and lasted throughout her life.

The artist moved to Montpellier in 1937, where she began to paint with Mediterranean colours and lights. She exhibited her works on quite numerous occasions, alone or with the other painters from the Languedoc region, such as the artists from the Montpellier and Sète group, and communicated with Joseph Delteil and Max Rouquette.

Nevertheless, she stayed in contact with art critics from Paris by participating in many Salons (such as those of the Artistes Indépendants and the Artistes Français) and in her personal exhibitions (the last one took place at the Drouant gallery in 1982). Her works were often rewarded and were bought by the state and different museums.

Colette Richarme died in Montpellier on February 27, 1991, and was buried in the cemetery in Albertville.

Twenty-four years of painting: the number of works she produced is impressive and consists of oil paintings, gouaches, watercolours, drawings and Indian ink drawings.