Artist Lois Dodd: 99 Years of Seeing the World

At 99, artist Lois Dodd is experiencing a surge in recognition with her first European retrospective and a new documentary. For over eight decades, Dodd has dedicated herself to painting what she truly sees, a practice that began in the 1950s. Her work, which includes intimate interior scenes and the natural world, stands in contrast to the abstract art movements of her early career.

Dodd famously transformed a room in her Maine house into a "Painted Room" by first painting the walls with scenes of the woods outside, and then painting a picture of that wall. She finds inspiration in the mundane, like the light through a window or the shadow of a bed, stating that observation is what "gets you started."

She moved to Maine in the 1950s to escape the summer heat of her East Village loft and continued painting there for decades. When asked about her discipline, Dodd simply stated, "That's not discipline. That's just being alive." Her unique perspective emphasizes deep observation, encouraging people to truly see the world around them rather than merely wander through it.