Arbre de vie et Cieux, 2025. Carved acrylic on canvas. 36” x 24”.

Arbre de vie et Cieux, or, Tree of Life and Heavens, honors the tree removed from La Maison Dora Maar’s garden after Nancy B. Negley’s death—one Dora often sketched. Her drawing Arbre is incorporated into the painting, next to main form’s shape that represents the mountainous Luberon Massif, the range that extends toward the Alps. The star pattern references the site’s layered past: the medieval Jewish community once rooted there (yellow, 6 points, Star of David), and the painted blue ceilings (gold, Star of Bethlehem, 5,7, and 8 points with various meanings) of Catholic Gothic chapels kept by the religious officials who ruled France. The palette draws from local limestone and ochres, mined since pre-Roman times. A carved red diagram traces Allied and Nazi troop movements through Provence in 1944—a backdrop to Dora Maar’s wartime life. Towns like Ménerbes were left in ruin after the war’s economic fallout, later quietly repopulated. 

Sang et Or, 2025. Carved acrylic on canvas. 36” x 24”.

Sang et Or (Blood and Gold) references the stripes and nickname of the historical flags of the Provence region of France. The palette draws from local limestone and ochres, mined since pre-Roman times. A carved blue diagram traces the movements of Operation Dragoon, marking coastal landings and the dispersal of Allied troops throughout Provence, France, during WWII in 1944—a backdrop to Dora Maar’s wartime life. The vegetal drawing on the left side of the piece is her minimal line drawing titled “Herbs”— flavorful plants found growing wild throughout Provence. The central main form of the painting is the shape of the Luberon Massif, the mountain range that extends toward the Alps.

Empires du Sol(iel), 2025, Carved acrylic on canvas. 24" x 36".

Empires du Sol(iel) (Empires of the soil/sun) is a reflection on abundance, both past and present. Created in tribute to Dora Maar and the region’s geology, the painting reveals the outline of the ancient Tethys Sea, which once covered this land and gave rise to the distinctive Ménerbian limestone. That same sea helped shape the Vaucluse region’s fertile soils, essential to its vineyards and crops. Carved grainy layers in the work echo the shifting stone beds of the Luberon, especially those in La Maison Dora Maar’s garden, where Maar herself likely dined as spring storm clouds gathered over Mount Ventoux. This atmosphere—a sunset view from the property—forms the painting’s backdrop. The underpainting draws its palette from local limestone and ochres, mined since pre-Roman times. A final carving nods to one of Dora Maar’s drawings of her hilltop home—an emblem of her quiet, creative rebirth after Picasso, and today, the heart of La Maison Dora Maar Cultural Center.

Mistral, 2025. Carved Acrylic on canvas. 24” x 36”.

Mistral offers a view of Mont Ventoux, a mountain often veiled by haze or clouds. On windy days, Ménerbians glimpse its pale summit and can see its defunct meteorological tower from north-facing windows and rooftops. The shapes central in the work represent the Luberon Massif, the foothills of the Alps. The revealed underpainting draws its palette from local limestone and ochres, mined since pre-Roman times. Carved into the surface is an untitled postwar line drawing by Dora Maar, its contours echoing the lenticular clouds that often hover above Ventoux’s bald white peak.

Mont Ventoux’s white cap isn’t snow; it’s bare limestone. Centuries ago, the forest-covered summit was stripped for shipbuilding timber, and the forest never returned. Today, relentless winds—especially the Mistral, blowing down from the north—keep the summit permanently exposed. The landscape visible from a north-facing window at the Dora Maar Cultural Center, where the Mistral sweeps through, owes its contours to ancient tectonic shifts along the distant Nîmes Fault.

Dora Maar, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 36” x 24”.

This work is a companion to Henriette Theodora. Its deliberate opacity reflects the layered myths and speculation surrounding Dora Maar—born Henriette Theodora Markovitch. For much of her life, she was overshadowed by her relationship with Picasso: remembered as The Weeping Woman, defined by his gaze rather than her voice. Her story, until the last few decades, was reduced to fragments shaped by male-centered narratives and Picasso lore, overlooking her resilience as an important figure in surrealism, an antifascist activist, and a survivor of domestic violence at Picasso’s hands.

The imagery draws from a close-up of one of Maar’s untitled felt-tip pen abstractions, figures flickering in tense, suspended motion. Their restless, spellbound energy evokes the haunted mood of the feminist “witch” motif: not as a figure of fear, but as a symbol of fierce independence and latent power. Like Maar herself, the drawing resists fixed meaning, carrying both vulnerability and defiance beyond the limiting labels of “muse” or “victim.”

Dora Maar, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 36” x 24”.

This work weaves together the layered histories of this region in France—from its karst geology and tectonic upheavals to the Wars of Religion, both World Wars, and the intertwined stories of the Jewish diaspora and Christianity. These events build like stratified geology, forming a story like a cross-section that shaped both the place and Henriette Theodora Markovitch, better known as Dora Maar.

Often reduced to The Weeping Woman, Maar was an accomplished artist and survivor of Picasso’s violence. This piece draws imagery from one of her felt-tip pen abstractions, its restless energy reflecting the haunted, defiant spirit of the feminist “witch” motif. The forms shift between abstraction and atmosphere, resisting fixed meaning, much like Maar herself. Incorporated here is the vaulted ceiling of the Eglise St. Luc, a church she reportedly disliked so much she would travel miles to attend another, underscoring her fierce independence. Both artist and place carry complex layers of truth that defy any single narrative or label.