Margaret Keane is a known American female artist who got famous for drawing paintings of animals and people with interestingly big eyes.
Margaret Keane Early Life
She was born as Peggy Doris Hawkins on September 15, 1927 in Nashville in Tennessee in United States. She was just a toddler when her eardrum was damaged during a medical operation so she couldn’t hear any more.
She has learned to read people’s facial expressions and lips in order to understand them, focusing especially on their eyes and the way they looked at her. Many people say that the fact she lost her hearing affected her other senses, such as vision, and that she had an easier time focusing on art.
She got interested in drawing as a child and started taking classes in Nashville’s Watkins Art Institute later. She claims that this was one of her favorite things to do.
She enrolled the Traphagen Design School in NY, but stayed there for only one year. She always used oil-based paints and painted only children, women and domestic animals such as cats and dogs. She painted them because she was mesmerized by their eyes.
Margaret Keane Career
Margaret met her husband Walter in the 50s. They met each other at North Beach anf he fell in love with her although he was already married, worked in real-estates and wasn’t unhappy in his marriage. Margaret was also married and had a child of her own. She also didn’t plan this to happen.
After they got married in 1955 he started selling her pictures but told everyone it was his work. She had to claim in public that he painted him because he threatened her life.
The paintings were becoming more and more popular and it was hard for Margaret to watch how her husbands enjoys in the fruits of her work.
In 1957 her husband Walter started showing off paintings in galeries and they started to sell for big amounts of money. They were hanged on walls in banks and in hotels, rich people wanted to buy them for their homes, etc.
Walter started promoting the work as “The Painting Keanes”. In 1960s he was so popular that even Andy Warhol thought he was a magnificient painter and spoke of Walter as a great artist.
Her paintings were so popular that she had to paint up to 15 hours a day in order to fulfill her husbands demands. He became greedy for money and fame so he pressured her to make more paintings and work harder. She said that she slowly started to back away from him since their love has gone cold and she started to feel as if she was abused for cash.
In 1970 she wasn’t married to Walter anymore since she decided to tell everyone that she is the real painter of those paintings and didn’t want to be scared no more. She announced it on the radio but people didn’t believe that she was the painter. She had a hard time becoming recognized after this big incident.
In 1986 she sued Walter for stealing her work for himself. The judge ordered both her and Walter to create a painting right there in the courtroom. Walter declined to do it but she painted one in less than an hour so the court gave her $4 million for compensation.
Margaret Keane’s Net Worth in 2024
A famous artist named Margaret Keane is known for her drawings, especially the ones with eyes that are too big for their bodies. Wealthy Genius sats rgar Keane was thought to have been worth about $2.5 million when she died in 2022. In Napa County, California, she lives in a fancy house.
How did he become rich?
Margaret was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 15, 1927. Her name at birth was Peggy Doris Hawkins. She liked art from a very young age and began drawing lessons when she was ten years old. After that, she went to school at the Watkins Art Institute in Nashville and the Traphagen School of Design in New York City.
She has been praised by critics for her unique drawing style and her characteristically big eyes. Van Gogh, Picasso, and many other artists had an impact on Se. The autobiographical film Big Eyes came out in 2014. Judy Keane was played by Amy Adams, and Tim Burton directed the movie.
The first man Keane married was Frank Ulbrich (948–1955). The second man she married was Walter Keane (1955–1965). Keane married her third husband, Dan McGuire, in 1970.
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