Dora Maar

(French, 1907–1997)

Dora Maar was a famed 20th-century French artist. Though she may be most well-known for her role as a romantic partner and muse of Pablo Picasso, Maar was an accomplished artist in her own right who has been the subject of renewed interest thanks to several posthumous exhibitions. Working across media, Maar created many poetic photographs, Surrealist collages, and painterly depictions of landscapes in Provence. Inspired by Brassaï and Man Ray in particular, her striking black-and-white images capture the portraits of many artists and intellectuals of the era, including her lover. In one of Maar’s most famous series, she documented Picasso painting Guernica in its many stages. Sadly, their nine-year relationship ended poorly in 1943, with Picasso abusing Maar both physically and emotionally. She was left distraught and in the care of controversial psychiatrist Jacques Lacan, who treated her illegally with electroshock therapy. Maar then went on to abandon photography and paint largely in private, creating works that were both profoundly personal and emotionally evocative, and it was only after her death that these were ever exhibited. Born Henriette Theodora Markovic on November 22, 1907 in Tours, France, Maar studied at the Académie Julian in Paris. Her work has been exhibited by Paris Galerie, the National Museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palazzo Fortuny, and in 2019, the Centre Pompidou. The artist died on July 16, 1997 in Paris, France.