The character arc of Marina Abramovic
Born 30 November 1946 in Belgrade and trained at the academy there. Between then and now sit an early endurance piece that put her own body in a stranger's hands, twelve years and a long collaboration with the artist Ulay that ended by walking the Great Wall of China from opposite ends, a silent run of ninety days facing visitors one at a time at the Museum of Modern Art, and a retrospective that made her the first living woman shown in the main galleries of the Royal Academy. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Marina Abramovic?
The grandmother of performance art, still present.
She was born in Belgrade in 1946 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts there before moving to work across Europe. Her early pieces made her own body the material and stillness the discipline: in Rhythm 0, in Naples in 1974, she stood without moving for six hours beside a table of objects and let visitors do as they wished, a piece about presence and endurance that is still taught fifty years on. She was asking a question she would ask for the rest of her life, which is how much a person can hold, and be held to, in one unbroken stretch of time.
From 1976 she worked for twelve years with the German artist Ulay, the two of them making paired pieces about trust, weight and shared endurance. They ended the partnership as deliberately as they had made it: in 1988 they walked the Great Wall of China from opposite ends and met in the middle to say goodbye. The line does not run straight up here. The parting closed the most sustained collaboration of her life, and what she did next was the turn that mattered, choosing to keep making the work alone and to put herself, rather than a pair, at the centre of it.
The piece that reached the widest audience came in 2010, when she sat in silence at the Museum of Modern Art for the whole run of The Artist Is Present, seven hundred and thirty six hours facing one stranger at a time, and Ulay took the chair opposite on the opening day. In 2023 she became the first living woman to hold a solo show in the main galleries of the Royal Academy in London, and she works on toward a Venice retrospective in 2026. Her line is worth reading because a career built on holding still turned out to be one of the most enduring in modern art.
The moments
Marina Abramovic's timeline.
The 1940s
Born in Belgrade
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Born in Belgrade in 1946, in what was then Yugoslavia, and raised in the city.
The 1960s
Into the Belgrade academy
Milestone. She enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade and began to train as an artist.
The 1970s
Rhythm 0 in Naples
Milestone, and it changed everything. For six hours she stood still beside a table of objects and let visitors act, a landmark of endurance still taught today.
Met Ulay, a partnership
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She began a twelve year collaboration with the artist Ulay, the two making paired pieces about trust and shared endurance.
The 1980s
Walking the Great Wall
Milestone, and it changed everything. She and Ulay walked the Great Wall of China from opposite ends and met in the middle, a piece made to close their partnership.
The partnership ended
Setback, and it changed her direction. The walk ended the most sustained collaboration of her life, and she chose to carry the work forward alone.
Work alone, or step back
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: keep making the work alone, taken, or let the Ulay years be the summit. She sat in silence at MoMA for the whole run of The Artist Is Present, and the work reached more people than any before it.
The 2010s
The Artist Is Present
Milestone, and it changed everything. She sat in silence at MoMA for the whole run, facing one stranger at a time, and Ulay took the chair opposite on the opening day.
A film reaches many
Everyday. A film of the MoMA piece carried the work far beyond the gallery to a wide audience.
512 Hours in London
Milestone. At the Serpentine she spent the gallery hours present with visitors and little else, a long study in shared stillness.
The 2020s
The Royal Academy retrospective
Milestone, and it changed everything. She became the first living woman to hold a solo show in the main galleries of the Royal Academy in London.
Honoured with a prize
Everyday. She was named a laureate of the Praemium Imperiale, one of the most respected honours in the arts.
A Venice retrospective opens
Milestone, and it changed her direction. A major retrospective opens in Venice, making her the first living woman given a solo show at the Gallerie dell'Accademia.
The line reaches today still working, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What she set moving is already everywhere: the artists who followed her into performance, and every visitor who sat across a table and learned what a quarter of an hour of full attention weighs.
In her words
Quotes by Marina Abramovic
An artist should not lie to himself or others.
The hardest thing is to do something which is close to nothing, because it is demanding all of you.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
Hers is nearly six decades in and still being drawn. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Marina Abramovic, verified 14 September 2026.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, biography of Marina Abramovic.
- Museum of Modern Art, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, 2010.
- Royal Academy of Arts, Marina Abramovic retrospective, 2023.
- The Art Newspaper, Marina Abramovic solo exhibition at Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia, 25 September 2025.
- The Praemium Imperiale, 2025 laureates.
- Marina Abramovic, An Artist's Life Manifesto, 2011.
- Marina Abramovic, widely quoted on her work.