Born in the United States, Lee Miller began her career as a fashion model in New York City during the 1920s before relocating to Paris. In France, she shifted her focus to fine-art photography, collaborating closely with Man Ray and mastering technical processes such as solarization.

Miller is recognized for her dual legacy as a Surrealist artist and a documentarian. Her work spans intimate portraits and experimental photography from her time in Paris and Cairo, to her stark, unflinching photojournalism captured while serving as a war correspondent.

Recent institutional recognition has solidified her standing in art history, with major retrospectives at Tate Britain and the Centre Pompidou highlighting her technical mastery and the breadth of her archive. These exhibitions have drawn record-breaking attendance, emphasizing her enduring influence on 20th-century photography.