Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick
Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick are perhaps one of the most recognized artist-and-muse duos. So enamored with Sedgwick, Warhol named the troubled socialite Queen of “The Factory,” his infamous artist’s workshop. However, the infatuation was short lived and Edie left for Bob Dylan’s crowd. A few years later, she died of a drug overdose—Warhol was asked how he felt about her and replied by saying he barely knew her.
Salvador Dali and Gala Dali
When they first met, Dali said Gala saved him from madness and an early death. Married with an affair already under her belt, she followed Dali to Paris and they wed in 1934. She became Dali’s shrewd business manager, encouraged him to practice his technique, and even selected paints and frames. Eventually, her love for him grew cold, as she had affairs with much younger men, even in her seventies. She moved away to a castle, and although Dali painted it with grand murals, he was only allowed to visit by invitation.
Pablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse Walter
Picasso was famous for his constant stream of mistresses, but Marie-Thérèse Walter stands out the most as the subject of the famous and erotic painting Le Rêve (The Dream). When the pair met, she was 17 and already married. That apparently didn’t stop the love affair—she bore him his first daughter and the couple stayed together for many years until his next mistress, Dora Maar, came along.
John Singer Sargent and “Madame X”
Two Americans in Paris—John Singer Sargent, the prodigious society painter, and Virginie Avegno Gautreau, the wealthy socialite. He was so struck by her unique looks that he requested to paint her, rather than receive a commission. The end result, titled Madame X to mask her identity, showed Virginie in a strapless gown (he later painted straps over the original). It shocked the Parisians, and ruined his career in Paris. He thrived in Great Britain and America, and later said the painting was probably his best.
Jean Luc Godard and Anna Karina
She was underage and had a boyfriend when they met. He, much older, wanted to cast her in a nude scene as her first part. When she finally agreed to another part, he flew her mother next-day to location to sign a permission form. Their romance produced a marriage, divorce, and seven films such as A Woman Is a Woman, Alphaville, and Band of Outsiders.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo looked no further than the mirror for inspiration. Known for expressing her emotional and physical pain in her vibrant self-portraits, she said, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” Of about 143 total paintings, 53 were of herself.
Man Ray and Kiki de Montparnasse
Famed 1920s artist Man Ray’s picture of Kiki de Montparnasse’s back as a violin, Le Violon d’Ingres, is one of the first surrealist photographs. But enough about Man Ray. Born Alice Prin, she later changed her name to the more scandalous Kiki de Montparnasse (kiki was slang for vagina) and posed nude for countless artists, even before becoming tumultuously entwined with Man Ray. Her colorful life is now documented in the coffee table book Paris in the 1920s With Kiki de Montparnasse.
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda was the ultimate 20s flapper icon and mold for most of his female fictional characters (think Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby). Champagne-fueled escapades like dancing on tables, riding on top of taxis, and passing out at parties made them the stuff of Fitzgerald’s very own novels. The descent of the Jazz Age marked their descent as well—for him, alcoholism, and for her, schizophrenia.
Leonardo Da Vinci and “Salai” Gian Giacomo Caprotti
According to an expert quoted in the NY Daily News, Gian Giacomo Caprotti (or Salai—“The Devil”) was Leonardo Da Vinci’s male lover and the real face behind the Mona Lisa. Most other experts say he was his intern and close friend of 25 years. Either way, he was close enough with the artist that he owned the Mona Lisa after Da Vinci died.
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton
Woody Allen may have a lust (his word—not ours!) for many of the actresses in his films, but Diane Keaton was his original muse. Allen has said that he had a difficult time creating parts for women until the Annie Hall actress came into his life. We just love her chic tomboy style.
Author: Alexis Sargent
