Marie Laurencin was born in Paris in 1883. From 1903 to 1904 she went to the Académie Humbert and met Georges Braque there who introduced her with artists of the Bateau-Lavoir.

Marie Laurencin lived in the atmosphere of the Cubist environment. From1907, she exhibited to the “Salon des Indépendants”. She painted portraits, self-portraits and groups of persons. Marie Laurencin became the partner and muse of poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1907-1914 ). In 1912, she participated in the “Salon de la Section d’Or” and exhibited a set of portraits in the “Cubist house “of André Mare. In 1914, she married the painter Otto von Watgen; with the declaration of war the couple found refuge in Spain (on 1914 in 1920), at first in Madrid, then in Barcelona.

She divorced her husband and returned to Paris in 1921. Marie Laurencin became an official portrait painter in the feminine worldly circle; she found her own composition, painted poetic and melancholic canvases, in pale colours where dominated pink, blue and white. Simplifying her compositions, her style evolved towards a particular use of fluid and pleasant colours. She mainly painted women and girls portraits or scenes staging them. She also composed still lives and bunches of flowers. At the same time, Marie Laurencin created a graphic work, created decorations and suits for the ballet; she established deep relations with numerous writers for whom she illustrated several works (Max Jacob, Gide, Saint-John Perse, Jouhandeau, Paulhan, etc.).

Marie Laurencin died in Paris in 1956. She rests in the cemetery of Père Lachaise; according to her last wills, she rests in a white dress holding in hand a Guillaume Apollinaire's love letter.