Oh Dora...

Brisbane's first exhibition of Surrealism in almost twenty years is on its way! The works will be on loan from the Pompidou Center in Paris, including works by Dali, Ernst, Miro and Margritte. There will be over 180 paintings, as well as film and photography by artists like Man Ray and Dora Maar.

Dora Maar photographed by Man Ray

Picasso painting "Guernica" photographed by Maar

If you haven't heard of Dora Maar before, you still may have seen her. She was one of Picasso's lovers and muses and also a painter, poet and photographer. Her "real" name was Henritte Theodora Markovitch and she was a well known photographer by the time she met Picasso at the "Cafe les Duex Magots" in 1936. She was 29 and Picasso was 54. Their relationship lasted nearly nine years and Picasso painted her often and regarded her as his "woman in tears", as she was unable to have children. She had to complete initially with another of Picasso's mistresses, Marie-Therese Walter and was eventually replaced by Francoise Gilot in 1943.