Marie von Bunsen

Marie von Bunsen (17 January 1860 – 28 June 1941) was a British-born German writer, watercolour painter and literary salon host.

Life

Marie was born in London, United Kingdom, to a wealthy, liberal family. Her father was a Prussian politician and member of the Reichstag, Georg von Bunsen (1824–1896), while her mother, Emma von Birkbeck, came from a wealthy British banking family. The financial situation and social position of her family made it possible for her to spend extended periods time traveling abroad. In her youth she traveled in England, Italy and North Africa. She painted watercolours and from 1882 to 1927 she was a member of the Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen (Association of Berlin Women Artists). She was for a time lady-in-waiting to Empress Victoria, but this ended when Emperor Friedrich III died in 1888.

In her house in the Tiergarten district of Berlin she received guests for Sunday breakfasts, and from 1905 onwards she organised a salon together with Hedwig Heyl and Else Schulhoff. She often travelled in Germany with her friends or alone. Between 1911 and 1914 she visited several countries in Asia and in 1934 she published Im Fernen Osten ('In the Far East') about her travels.

She also published biographies of members of royalty and of art critic John Ruskin (1903). In 1918 she joined the liberal German Democratic Party. She was financially independent until the hyperinflation of 1923 and afterwards earned her living by writing and painting. In 1930 Harper and Brothers published her Lost courts of Europe: The world I used to know, 1860-1912. She died on 28 June 1941 in Berlin.