Biography of Dora Maar (1907-1997)

Henrietta Theodora Markovic was born in Tours 22 November 1907 and changed her name to Dora Maar.

She spoke fluent Spanish and spent of her youth in Argentina and returning to France in 1920.

She began studying art in Paris in 1926, choosing photography as her preferred medium and eventually travelling in the circles of such figures as Henri-Bresson, Brassai and Man Ray.

Paul Eluard had introduced Dora Maar and Picasso to each other in October 1935 at the Café au Deux Magots. During 1936 they became lovers. Their love affair started in fall, as the Spanish Civil war escalated.

Dora’s face begins to appear in Picasso’s work during the fall of 1936 and it was she who next spring photographed Guernica in progress.

She suffered nervous collapse after the affair with Picasso ended in 1945. She underwent treatment in psychiatric hospital of Sainte-Anne, Paris and later with the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.

She died on 16 July 1997.
Biography of Dora Maar (1907-1997)

Who is Dora Maar in Picasso’s life?

Picasso met her at the Café Deux-Magots in 1936. On an earlier day, he had already noticed the grave, drawn face of the young woman at a nearby table, the attentive look in her light-colored eyes, sometimes disturbing in its fixity.

When Picasso saw her again in the same café in the company of Paul Eluard who knew her, the poet introduced her to Picasso.

He courted her with a drawing that made obvious his awareness of the 30 years’ difference in their ages.

Potrait of Dora Maar (1936)

Their love affair started that fall, as the Spanish Civil was escalated.

The ‘Potrait of Dora Maar’ is one of among a great many done in 1936-1937 that bespeak both youth and solemnity in haunting combination.

She was intellectual who knew and cared about art, and she could talk with him in Spanish as well as French.

Dora’s face begins to appear in Picasso’s work during the fall of 1936, and it was she who the next spring photographed Guernica in progress – an interesting echo of Matisse’s recent practice of creating a photograph record of his works.

Dora is often depicted as overcome by grief and anxiety; a characteristic image of her is Weeping Woman.
Who is Dora Maar in Picasso’s life?