Marlene Dumas is born in 1953 in Cape Town (South Africa). In the 1970s, she studies painting at the University of Cape Town. In 1976, she receives a scholarship to continue her education at the Dutch Ateliers ’63, and moves to Amsterdam. She still lives and works there.
Dumas paints on canvas, works with watercolour and ink on paper, and has an extensive graphic oeuvre to her name. In her work she addresses themes such as racial inequality and segregation, which she has seen a lot of during her life in South Africa. She often shows people in all their nakedness. By playing with the perspective and proportions of her figures, Dumas shows what she finds important: the expression, emotion and action.
Since the start of her career, Dumas has been fascinated by photography – she often uses photographic sources for her art. She has a huge archive of home-made photos and photos from printed media, but her drawings and paintings are never a literal representation of photos: she may cut the image and use only a detail or a different colour palette.
Dumas’ work is known and sought after worldwide. Astronomical amounts are paid for her paintings and watercolours. The leading museums for modern and contemporary art have work by Dumas in their collection.
