Margaret Keane was an artist known for her paintings of children with large sad eyes whose story of her husband stealing credit from her was told in the 2014 film “Big Eyes.”
- Died: Sunday, June 26, 2022 (Who else died on June 26?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 94 at her home in Napa, California.
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Big Eyes painter
Margaret Keane was a painter whose husband at the time, Walter Keane, took credit for her popular paintings of children with large sad eyes. He was her second husband and bullied her into staying home in their basement painting all day. Unknown to her at the time, he was promoting her works and claiming them as his own. The paintings became popular with the masses, not with art critics. They were commercially successful, popular in homes, restaurants, bars and art shows. Walter Keane became known to the public as a famous artist at the time.
Margaret found out about the fraud early on but scared of her husband, she did not speak out. The couple separated in 1965 and she obtained a divorce a few years later. In 1970, Margaret publicly stated that she was the artist of the paintings and challenged Walter to a live paint-off to prove it, but he did not show up and continued to take credit. In a 1986 defamation lawsuit against her ex-husband, she painted one of her sad eyes portraits in court while Walter claimed he was injured and couldn’t paint, and the suit was decided in her favor. Director Tim Burton told the story in his 2014 film “Big Eyes,” which starred Amy Adams as Margaret.
Notable Quote
“I was in this trap, and I was getting in deeper and deeper.” “I didn’t have enough sense to stop it, or courage. And then, I think, lying like that, I think he began to lose touch with reality. I think he actually convinced himself he could paint, maybe.” – New York Times
Tributes to Margaret Keane
Full Obituary: New York Times
