Author(s): Dominic Van Den Boogerd

Art and Photography

Marlene Dumas is celebrated around the world for her highly charged depictions of the human form. In her oil paintings, drawings and watercolours she captures the body in all its states, from pain to pleasure, eroticism to pathos, birth to death. These works often focus on the body as a contested site with regard to issues such as race, pornography and illegal immigration, but they also address such timeless themes as mortality, sexuality and childhood. Above all, they express a boundless faith in the power of painting to communicate complex psychological realities with eloquence and humour. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1953, Dumas has lived in Amsterdam since 1976. Her work has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at museums such as the Tate Gallery in London (1996), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2001) and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2008). It has also been featured around the world in major group exhibitions such as Documenta (1982, 1992) and biennials in Sydney (1984, 2000), Sao Paulo (1985), Johannesburg (1995), Venice (1995, 2003, 2005) and Shanghai (2000).