Artist Database

Marlene Dumas was born in Cape Town and grew up in the Western Cape. She graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1975 with a degree in Fine Art. Dumas then spent three years studying art at Ateliers ‘63 in Haarlem, Netherlands between 1976 and 1978, and studied Psychology at the University of Amsterdam in the early 1980s. Dumas is best known for her oil paintings on canvas and her works in ink on paper. She uses a wet-on-wet layering technique of thin paint over thick, and loose brush strokes to create both distortion and detail in her paintings. Dumas draws inspiration from photographs of friends, lovers, children and well-known political figures, magazines, and pornographic material to inform her unsettling and often sexually suggestive or erotic images. Whilst appearing as portraits, her works do not represent particular people, but address issues of identity, sexuality, and various emotional states of being.

Dumas has exhibited extensively in both solo and group exhibitions at prestigious galleries worldwide. In 2004 Dumas became one of the first female living artists to have an artwork sold on auction for over $1 million with the sale of Jule-die Vrou (1985). Dumas’ artworks are represented in private and public collections globally.

Marlene Dumas lives in the Netherlands and is considered one of the country’s most prolific artists.