Henriette Theodora Markovitch was born in Paris in November 1907. The daughter of a Croatian father and a French mother, her childhood and adolescence were spent in Buenos Aires (1910-1927), where she learned to speak Spanish fluently. On her return to Paris in 1927 she studied at the Central Union of Decorative Arts, School of Photography and Cinematography, and Académie Julien. In the years that followed, she would shorten her name to Dora Maar, work as a set photographer for Jean Renoir and become an intimate of Brassaï. In 1932 she began to spend time with Jacques Prévert, Georges Bataille and Paul Eluard, who would introduce her to Picasso. The two met towards the end of 1935 in the Deux Magots café in St Germain-des-Près. Dora Maar was herself a painter, but is remembered more for her work with photomontage and Surrealist photography.

© Succession Picasso  2017
Localisation : Paris, musée Picasso
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée Picasso de Paris) / image RMN-GP