Marlene
Dumas
Marlene Dumas is known for figurative painting with a thematic focus on people. Her figures, from individuals to groups, often limned in fluid contours and a distinctive color palette, never fail to make a vivid impression.
Some of these depictions of people are inspired by photos and images circulating in the media, in accordance with what Dumas describes as her use of “second-hand images and first-hand emotions,” and by weaving in individual experience, irony, and a critical perspective with a touch of humor, she creates works of multilayered meaning.
Broken White (2006), one of the most prominent, is an oil painting showing the face of a supine woman, whose listless expression and seductive porcelain skin echo a black-and-white shot by photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. The nebulous sensuality percolating from the picture plane is further highlighted by its contrast with The Swan (2005). Recalling the Greek myth in which Zeus transforms himself into a swan and forces himself on Leda, queen of Sparta, like Broken White it is painted in a “dirty white” harboring hints of red and yellow, and pulses with a dull glow that seems to illuminate the emotions deep within. For Dumas the color “white,” when used as a racial reference of purity, will always be tainted with negative associations.
The Painter (1994) takes Dumas’ daughter Helena as its model. The young “painter” with paint stuck to hands and torso is both limning subject and limned object. Projecting herself on the preschooler through this “nested” subject matter, Dumas provocatively upends the historical convention of “male painter, female model” and poses questions for the viewer.
Dumas grew up in South Africa under apartheid, and is also known for works with political and social themes. Het Kwaad is Banaal (Evil is Banal) (1984) is a self-portrait of the artist, taking its title from the phrase “banality of evil” used in a famous description of Nazi cruelty. The stark contrast of black and white in this work hints at Dumas’ dilemma as a white woman raised in South Africa, and throws into relief the chilling truth that here also, the evils of discrimination and prejudice as yet remain unpunished.
Drawing also occupies an important place in the practice of Dumas. Young Boys, presented at her first solo exhibition at Gallery Koyanagi, in 1996, is based on cuttings collected from newspapers and magazines in response to the artist’s stated desire to paint Japanese people. In her distinctive wet-on-wet application of pigment, young male bodies seemingly explicitly open to myriad sexual desires are rendered as fleeting inaccessible subjects. Initially drawing on sensual images of Japanese rent boys, the series later expanded to encompass a wider range of resources that included Yukio Mishima’s self-portrait as Saint Sebastian.
In all her works, Dumas employs a classical medium to skillfully elevate the complexities of individuals and society, in an ongoing interrogation of the fundamental meaning of what it is to depict.
READ MORE READ LESS
Dumas has participated in major international exhibitions such as the 46th and 51st Venice Biennale (1995, 2005) and documenta 7 and 9, Kassel (1982, 1992). She has held solo exhibitions at prominent institutions including Centre Pompidou, Paris (2002), New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2001), Art Institute of Chicago (2003), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008–09), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2014), Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2014), and Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2022). In Japan, her solo exhibitions have been presented at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2007) and Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa (2007).
BIOGRAPHY
1953Born in Cape Town, South Africa
1972-75University of Cape Town, South Africa
1976-78Ateliers 63, Haarlem, The Netherlands
1979-80Institute of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
2015Honorary Doctorate, University of Antwerp
Lives and works in Amsterdam
Solo Exhibitions
2025Marlene Dumas: Cycladic Blues, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens
2024Marlene Dumas: Mourning Marsyas, Frith Street Gallery, London
2022Marlene Dumas: open-end, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
2021Marlene Dumas: Le Spleen de Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
2020Marlene Dumas – Double Takes, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
2018Marlene Dumas: Myths & Mortals, David Zwirner, New York
Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch, with guest star René Daniëls, curated by Marlene Dumas and Trine Otte Bak Nielsen, Munchmuseet, Oslo
2017Marlene Dumas. Die Entstehung eines Altarbildes/The Creation of an Altarpiece, Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden [in collaboration with Jan Andriesse and Bert Boogaard]
Marlene Dumas: Dresden Mural, St. Anne’s Church, Freiberger Platz, Dresden [permanent installation] [in collaboration with Jan Andriesse and Bert Boogaard]
Marlene Dumas. Hope and Fear, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
Marlene Dumas: Oscar Wilde and Bosie, National Portrait Gallery, London [part of I Am Me]
Marlene Dumas. Skulls, Albertinum, Dresden
2015Marlene Dumas/Juan Muñoz: Drawings, Frith Street Gallery, London [two-person exhibition]
2014Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Fondation Beyeler, Basel
2013Marlene Dumas/Luc Tuymans: Twice, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp [two-person exhibition]
2012Marlene Dumas: Love hasn’t got anything to do with it, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Marlene Dumas: Sorte, Fondazione Stelline, Milan
2011Marlene Dumas: Coming and Going, Moderna Museet, Stockholm [organized on the occasion of the Rolf Schock Prize in the Visual Arts]
Marlene Dumas: Forsaken, Frith Street Gallery, London
2010Marlene Dumas: Against the Wall, David Zwirner, New York [itinerary: Marlene Dumas: Contra O Muro, Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal]
Marlene Dumas: Tronies, Haus der Kunst, Munich
2008Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (2009)
Marlene Dumas: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
Marlene Dumas: Magnetic Fields, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf
2007Marlene Dumas: Broken White, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan
Marlene Dumas: Intimate Relations, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa; Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2008)
Marlene Dumas: Light and Dark 1987-2007, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
Wave and The Fog of War: Marlene Dumas and Marijke van Warmerdam, Le Case d’Arte, Milan
2006Marlene Dumas: Man Kind, Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
2005Marlene Dumas: Female, Taidehalli, Helsinki [itinerary: Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden; Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany]
Marlene Dumas: Selected Works, Zwirner & Wirth, New York
2004Marlene Dumas & Marijke Van Warmerdam: Con vista al celestiale, Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea di Siracusa, Montevergini, Italy [itinerary: BAWAG Foundation,Vienna]
Marlene Dumas: The Second Coming, Frith Street Gallery, London
2003Marlene Dumas: Suspect, Palazzetto Tito, Venice
Marlene Dumas: Wet Dreams, Watercolors, Städtische Galerie, Ravensburg, Germany
2002-03Marlene Dumas: Time and Again, Zeno X Storage, Antwerp [itinerary: The Art Institute of Chicago] [brochure published in 2003 for Chicago]
2001Marlene Dumas: All is Fair in Love and War, Jack Tilton/Anna Kustera Gallery, New York
Marlene Dumas: Nom de Personne / Name No Names, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris [itinerary: New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands]
Marlene Dumas: One Hundred Models and Endless Rejects, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
2000Anton Corbijn and Marlene Dumas: strippinggirls, Theatermuseum, Theater Instituut Nederland, Amsterdam [itinerary: Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent; Institut Néerlandais, Paris] [two-person exhibition]
1999-2000Marlene Dumas: MD, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp [itinerary: Camden Arts Center, London; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway]
1999Diletto-Laudanum: Marlene Dumas-Tracey Moffat, Le Case d’Arte, Milan
Marlene Dumas: MD-Light, Frith Street Gallery, London
1998Damenwahl: Marlene Dumas, Andries Botha, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel [two-person exhibition]
Marlene Dumas: Fantasma Desenhos/Fantasy Drawings, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
Marlene Dumas, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Marlene Dumas: Miss World, Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
1997Marlene Dumas: Wolkenkieker, Produzentengalerie Hamburg
1996Marlene Dumas, Tate Gallery, London [pamphlet]
Marlene Dumas: Pin-Up, Stedelijk Museum het Toreke, Tienen, Belgium
Marlene Dumas: Youth and Other Demons, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
1995Marlene Dumas: Love Hurts, Stampa Galerie, Basel
Marlene Dumas, Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris
Marlene Dumas, Raum Aktueller Kunst, Vienna
Marlene Dumas, Francis Bacon: Det Unika Med Att Vara en Människa / The Particularity of Being Human, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden [itinerary: Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin]
Marlene Dumas: Models, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria [itinerary: Portikus, Frankfurt; Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin]
1994Marlene Dumas: Chlorosis, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
Marlene Dumas: Männeransichten, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne
Marlene Dumas: Not From Here, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York
1993-94Marlene Dumas, Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia [itinerary: Arts Club of Chicago; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto]
1993Marlene Dumas: Give the People What They Want, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
Marlene Dumas: Land of Milk and Honey, Produzentengalerie Hamburg
Marlene Dumas, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany [itinerary: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London]
Marlene Dumas, Le Case d’Arte, Milan
1992Marlene Dumas: Ask Me No Questions and I’ll Tell You No Lies, Galerie Isabella Kacprzak, Cologne
Marlene Dumas: Insights, AXENÉO7, Hull, Quebec
Marlene Dumas: Miss Interpreted, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands [itinerary: Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia]
Marlene Dumas: Strips, In Situ/Ardi Poels, Maastricht, The Netherlands
1991Marlene Dumas: Ausser Reichweite von Kindern, Stampa Galerie, Basel
Marlene Dumas, Presentation of a solo commission for the Psychiatric Centre in Het Hooghuys, Etten-Leur, The Netherlands
1990Marlene Dumas: Couples, Museum Overholland, Amsterdam
Marlene Dumas: The Origin of the Species, Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich [itinerary: Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam]
1989Marlene Dumas: The Question of Human Pink, Kunsthalle Bern
1988Marlene Dumas: Arbeiten 1986/88, Stampa Galerie, Basel
Marlene Dumas: Ecco Pier Paolo Pasolini, Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Marlene Dumas: Nightmares, Galerie Wanda Reiff, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Marlene Dumas: Waiting (for Meaning), Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany [itinerary: Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam]
1987Marlene Dumas and Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam
Marlene Dumas: Mother Explains Life to Her Son, Marktzeventien, Enschede, The Netherlands
Marlene Dumas: The Private Versus the Public, Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
1986Marlene Dumas: Tekeningen en Grafiek, Galerie Terzijde, Bussum, The Netherlands
1985Marlene Dumas: The Eyes of the Night Creatures, Galerie Helen van der Meij, Amsterdam
1984Marlene Dumas: The Artist as a Young Girl, Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marlene Dumas: Ons Land Licht Lager Dan de Zee, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
1983Marlene Dumas: Unsatisfied Desire, Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
1981Marlene Dumas and Reinoud Oudshoorn, Felison Beeckestein, Velsen, The Netherlands
1980Marlene Dumas, Galerie Lambelet, Basel
1979Marlene Dumas, Galerie Annemarie de Kruyff, Paris
1977Marlene Dumas, Elizabeth de Vaal, Edelambachtshuis, Gouda, The Netherlands
