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One of the most famous muses in art history is Salvador Dali’s wife Gala Diakonova. She was the lover and muse of two famous surrealists before she met Dali.
She was the subject of many of his paintings. He often portrayed her in religious roles, such as the Madonna in ‘The Madonna of Port Lligat.’ In the 1930s he began to sign both of their names on his paintings, as she had such an influence on his work.
The story goes that Dali was impotent and afraid of female genitalia, so he encouraged Gala to have affairs with other men. They were open about this arrangement and she didn’t hide her relationships.
They seemed to have a harmonious partnership until the 1970s when they began living in separate homes. Gala had a string of young lovers whom she lavished with extravagant gifts. She was reportedly dating the 22-year-old ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ actor Jeff Fenholt when she died at the age of 87.
Ilona Staller is a Italian adult film star and politician, also known as "La Cicciolina." She was elected MP to the Italian Parliament in 1987.
Staller married the American pop artist Jeff Koons in 1991. He then created his most explicit and most famous body of work called ‘Made in Heaven.’
The exhibition depicted the couple involved in various intimate acts, through sculpture, paintings, and photography. They divorced in 1994 and Staller has continued with her political career in Italy.
Edie Sedgwick was one of the fashion icons of the Swinging Sixties in New York. She was a model and actress, as well as a close friend of Andy Warhol.
Their relationship has been the source of many books and movies. Most notably, the 2006 film ‘Factory Girl’ where she’s played by Sienna Miller.
Warhol painted her many times, and she also starred in some of his experimental films such as ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’ and ‘Kitchen.’ She sadly died of a drug overdose in 1971.
Diego Rivera was a famous painter and political activist in Mexico. He was well established and respected when he met Frida Kahlo. She was an aspiring 22-year-old artist, and he was in his forties.
The two embarked on a tumultuous life-long relationship which would be reflected in many of her paintings. Kahlo was a very personal painter, and her work gave an eerie insight into their life together.
They divorced in 1939 and remarried shortly after to continue their stormy relationship, until her death in 1954. They were two of the most important artists in Mexican history and are both commemorated on Mexican bank notes.
Emilie Louise Flöge was an Austrian fashion designer who moved in bohemian circles at the beginning of the 19th century.
She and Klimt were partners and she was featured in several of his paintings. He also contributed to her work when the couple designed a series of dresses together.
This portrait of Flöge is one of his most loved works. The two never married but were together until he died.
It’s theorized that his famous masterpiece ‘The Kiss’ depicts Klimt and Flöge together.
Marie-Thérèse Walter was Picasso’s lover and muse for more than 10 years.
They met when she was 17 and he was 45. He was already married to a Russian ballerina. He painted her many times but the relationship fell apart when he met his new muse, Dora Maar.
Dora Maar was an influential Surrealist photographer when she met Picasso. Under his influence, she gave up photography and started painting instead. He believed it was a superior medium.
She was the inspiration for Picasso’s iconic ‘Weeping Woman’ series. It’s said that their relationship was abusive, and she was submitted to a psychiatric hospital towards the end.
Jeanne Samary was a young French actress of the Comédie-Française when she met Renoir in 1877. She was one of the few muses who was not thought to be in a romantic relationship with the artist.
She is quoted as having lamented that he married all of the women he painted, but only with his brush. She was his favorite model and he produced more paintings of her than any other woman.
Sadly, she died of typhoid fever at the age of 33. Her funeral was attended by more than 2,000 people.
Francis Bacon reportedly met his muse George Dyer in a London pub in 1963. The two quickly fell in love and Dyer became the subject of many of Bacon’s paintings.
Dyer was reportedly a misfit like Bacon, and the two of them shared a love of alcohol and an obsession with their appearance. He painted several three-part studies of Dyer, such as the triptych pictured here.
Many of Bacon’s portraits of Dyer were going to be displayed in an exhibition of his work in Paris. Sadly, Dyer took his own life two days before the exhibition. Bacon found him in the bathroom of their Paris hotel room.
Sources: (Daily Art Magazine, Widewalls, Artsy, Artnet News, Art-Renoir)
See also: Selfies on canvas: Self-portraits of great artists
Artists are known to be passionate and intense. This is certainly reflected in their work as we see their devotion and idealization of their muses, who are often their lovers.
Sadly, great pain is sometimes necessary to create great beauty. Many of these significant relationships were stormy, some even tragic. Click through the gallery to learn more about art history's most iconic subjects.
The stories of art's most alluring muses
Inspirations for the greatest artists in history
LIFESTYLE Art
Artists are known to be passionate and intense. This is certainly reflected in their work as we see their devotion and idealization of their muses, who are often their lovers.
Sadly, great pain is sometimes necessary to create great beauty. Many of these significant relationships were stormy, some even tragic. Click through the gallery to learn more about art history's most iconic subjects.