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LEONARD'S WOMEN - MARYANNE

LEONARD'S WOMEN - MARYANNE

PriceFrom AU$75.00

Marianne Christine Stang Ihlen (Norwegian: [mɑrɪˈɑ̂nːə ˈîːln̩]; 18 May 1935 – 28 July 2016) was a Norwegian woman who was the first wife of author Axel Jensen and later the muse and girlfriend of Leonard Cohen for several years in the 1960s.  She was the subject of Cohen's 1967 song "So Long, Marianne".

 

She describes her meeting of Leonard as follows : "I was standing in a shop with my basket waiting to pick up bottled water and milk. And I was crying in front of a Greek lady. Then, there he was (Cohen) standing in the door way with the sun behind him, and you don’t see the face, just the contours, and so I hear his voice saying ‘would you like to join us? Come into the sun. We’re sitting outside. He was wearing a beautiful little six-pence cap. When my eyes met his, I felt it throughout my body."  Cohen and Ihlen remained close, with him paying her rent and her son's boarding schools in England and Switzerland. He took her for visits to the Chelsea Hotel, and to concerts, and introduced her to Andy Warhol, Joni Mitchell and Buffy Sainte-Marie. As Cohen’s fame increased, other women would ring Ihlen’s apartment in an attempt to get to him. While they drifted apart as lovers, Cohen would continue to support Ihlen and provide whatever help he could. Their relationship finally ended in 1972 after the birth of Cohen's son Adam, who was born from his relationship with Suzanne Elrod.

 

This original was done on a cradled birchwood panel with Acrylics,. It is 400 x 400 x 3. There are limited edition and Open Edition Prints in 400 x 400 and 750 x 750 on Artist Paper.

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