Unlike her fellow dutch students, Marlene Dumas was still fascinated by porn and prostitutes.

Marlene grew up on a vineyard near Stellenbosch, a university town a little east of Cape Town, South Africa. Her parents had no idea she was such an artistic genius. They might have thought she was a little eccentric, at most. When the Dumas family would visit the Kruger National Park (one of Africa’s largest game reserves) Marlene would be drawing, rather than looking at the animals. At her boarding school in Stellenbosch she was punished for acting “unladylike”, a.k.a. she didn’t like to do “womenly” stuff like sewing. Misogyny much? She would also go to school barefoot, wearing her dads dressing gown. The only good thing about this school was that they had art as a subject.

While attending the University of Cape Town Marlene relocated to the University Amsterdam to study painting and psychology. Marlene chose the Dutchland for a few different reasons. First of all, she thought she could speak Dutch. Somehow many people think Dutch and Afrikaans is basically the same language, so once and for all people, it’s not! Also, she didn't choose to go to NYC because it seemed “too big and ambitious”. A third reason was that London wasn’t an option. Her friends and family hated the English because they were South Africa’s former colonial power. So yeah, apparently Amsterdam was her 3rd choice.

Before moving to Amsterdam, Marlene was pretty unworldly. South Africa was under strict censorship and TV wouldn't arrive  until 1976, the year she moved away. Apartheid (a system of horrid racial segregation that would be enforced until 1994) was very much at its peak in South Africa and has always been a reoccurring theme in her paintings. For some time, Marlene felt that being a white South African was the worst thing anyone could be.

Since the early 80’s Marlene painted portraits, LOTS of portraits. Her most famous ones are those of people like Amy Winehouse, Naomi Campbell, and yes, Osama Bin Laden. Besides models and terrorists, she also painted her daughter Helena, both inside and outside the womb. Ok maybe not like literally inside the womb, but she did paint self-portraits while preggerz. She couldn't paint the legs though, not because of her big belly, but “it made it look like a bad Klimt." Whatever that may look like.

Marlene wears white surgical gloves while painting to protect her hands, but treats her beloved brushes like sh*t. You’ll find them soaking in a plastic cup full of water. “I have to talk to them like people talk to trees, and say 'forgive me,’ because this is not how you should treat these brushes.” After she turned 50, Marlene decided it was time to behave like a “pain in the ass“ during interviews. (Her words, not mine.) She felt like she deserved to be less friendly and more strict, just like Louise Bourgeois. Some might think that’s rude, but I say, “You go girl!”

Besides, she’s one of the world’s most successful living female artist, so why the hell should she care?