Vierny Dina

About

Dina Vierny, born Dina Aïbinder on January 25, 1919, in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova (then Bessarabia), into a Jewish family, moved with her parents to Paris in 1925. At just 15 years old, she became the muse of French sculptor Aristide Maillol, posing for iconic works such as "L'Harmonie," "La Montagne," "La Rivière," and "L'Air," as well as for painters like Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, and Pierre Bonnard. Her ten-year relationship with Maillol, until his death in 1944, revitalized the artist's work, transforming her into a central figure of modern French art. During World War II, Dina Vierny was involved in the French Resistance, guiding refugees to Spain through Varian Fry's organization and using secret routes indicated by Maillol. Arrested by the French police and then by the Gestapo, she spent six months in prison but was released thanks to the intervention of sculptor Arno Breker. After the war, in 1947, she opened an art gallery in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris, exhibiting works by Maillol, Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse, and dissident Soviet artists like Ilya Kabakov. In 1964, she donated 18 Maillol sculptures to the Tuileries Gardens, and in 1995, she founded the Musée Maillol – Fondation Dina Vierny, inaugurated by President François Mitterrand, which houses the largest collection of the artist's work. Dina Vierny, married in 1938 to cameraman Sacha Vierny (a collaborator of Alain Resnais), had two sons: Olivier Lorquin, director of the Musée Maillol, and Bertrand Lorquin, curator of the museum. Passionate about unusual collections, she amassed over 90 antique carriages and sold a collection of 654 dolls to purchase the museum building on Rue de Grenelle. Decorated with the Legion of Honour, she died on January 20, 2009, in Paris, at the age of 89, leaving behind an artistic legacy that promotes Maillol's work in France and internationally.