Margaret Keane was born in Dublin, Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1922. She studied painting at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Paul Manship, where she became his protégée. In 1933 Keane won the prestigious U.S. Department of the Interior lithograph competition for her work, "The Farm at Sunrise"
By 1938 she was divorced from her husband. She married her second husband in 1941, and in 1942 she moved with him to New York City. She travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa and India during the 1950s but by 1960 her health was failing and she retired to Los Angeles to be near her daughter.
She died in 2001 in LA after a long illness.
Stand up for your rights and be brave, and don't be intimidated. Read your Bible. That's really given me strength, and it will give you strength. Pray, and use God's name, Jehovah. And never tell a lie, ever.Margaret Keane
The old, sad art colors are gone. Now I paint bright colors. I paint paintings which are happy, where children are laughing and playing with animals. I paint paradise on Earth. I still paint sadness sometimes, but there is sadness in the world, too.Margaret Keane
