Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1953, Marlene Dumas moved to the Netherlands in 1976 to attend the Ateliers '63 in Haarlem. She subsequently studied psychology at the University of Amsterdam, a background that heavily informs her analytical approach to portraiture and the human condition.

Dumas is primarily recognized for her work in oil on canvas and ink on paper, often drawing inspiration from a vast archive of personal photographs, media clippings, and art historical references. Her practice is characterized by a raw, emotive application of paint, focusing on subjects ranging from childhood and motherhood to death and eroticism.

She remains one of the most influential living painters, having been the subject of major international retrospectives and representing the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale. Her work is held in the permanent collections of numerous global institutions, cementing her status as a pivotal figure in contemporary figurative painting.