Death of Marjane Satrapi: she recounted the Iranian revolution in 'Persepolis', a comic masterpiece

French-Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi has died at the age of 56. Her family announced the news in a statement sent to AFP, explaining that the artist had been devastated by grief since the loss of her husband Mattias Ripa (her life and work companion, producer, author and screenwriter) who died on April 8, 2025.

"Marjane Satrapi died of grief a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, the love of her life," says the release.

A life between two worlds

Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969, Marjane Satrapi spent her teenage years in Vienna, where she moved to attend secondary school. She then returned to Iran for university, married, and in 1994, after the end of her first marriage, settled permanently in France. She lived in France for over thirty years, and adopted the country as her artistic homeland.

"Persepolis", the masterpiece

Her international breakthrough came with "Persepolis", published between 2000 and 2003 by the French publishing house L' Association. The comic strip recounted his childhood in Tehran during the Islamic revolution of 1979, Khomeini's rise to power, repressions, arrests, executions, and then exile in Europe. As a hybrid masterpiece, both intimate and political, was compared by critics to Art Spiegelman's "Maus", among the great masterpieces of the graphic novel. In 2007, Satrapi herself adapted it into an animated film, winning the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Minimalist, universal art

Satrapi's style was instantly recognizable: clean lines, expressive use of black and white, and her own character drawn with a mole on her nose, which has become one of the most beloved figures in European comics. her stories navigated naturally between the intimate and the collective, between depression and dictatorship, her personal traumas and those of an entire people. In addition to "Persepolis", she published "Poulet aux prunes" in 2004, and "Femme, vie, liberté" in 2023. Dedicated to the memory of Mahsa Amini, the latter work was co-written with academics and journalists. For many years, she also collaborated with the New York Times, writing a much-appreciated illustrated column.

A filmmaker as well as a cartoonist

Marjane Satrapi was also a filmmaker in her own right. In addition to animated adaptations of her own works, she directed "La Bande des Jotas" (2012), "The Voices" (2014) and "Radioactive" (2019), a biopic dedicated to the life of Marie Curie. She had eclectic career, always guided by the same common thread: a curiosity for extraordinary destinies and the courage to tell them without concession.