Night of the Commission of the Library of the ECF on the 18th of September, 2019: “Dora Maar, The Invisible Woman”
On the 18th of September, 2019 in Paris, at the place of the ECF, the Library Commission received Victoria Combalía, author of the book "Dora Maar, beyond Picasso", published in Barcelona in 2013, in the Circe editions. François Leguil animated the night in which - a few weeks before the 49th day of the ECF on the theme "Women in psychoanalysis" - we spoke about the trajectory of a woman and a singular artist, who also spent some time in psychoanalysis.
Victoria Combalía tracks for us the itinerary of Dora Maar, giving full weight to the "sentimental trauma" that constituted the breakup with the artist Picasso in 1943. After Picasso, Dora Maar gradually withdraws from the world, seeking refuge in a solitary existence, from then on, focused on painting and religion, and will become almost "invisible."
The encounter with Picasso was undoubtedly personal and artistic, but Victoria Combalia does not forget that it is another encounter, with Dr Lacan this time, which brought Dora out of what Françoise Gilot called "fall into madness." Many counter-truths have circulated about Dora as Lacan’s patient, what we know is that the artist's analysis with him lasted several years.