Born on 31 October 1883 in Paris, the young Marie is sent to Sèvres in 1901 by her mother, where she gets familiar with porcelain painting. Her education continues at a school in Paris, followed by the academy Humbert, where she gets acquainted with George Braque. Being friends with the latter, she soon meets Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, who support her from this time on and integrate her into the discussions about art theory, which will soon lead to cubism. Laurencins own creative work, however, stays untouched by theoretical demands like this; it shows mainly lyrical motifs like gracile, dreamy young girls in pastel colouring and soft shading. By this colour-sensitive inventiveness repetitions of form and motif are varied. A stylistic influence from Persian miniature painting and the art of rococo can be made out in the works of Laurencin. In 1907 the artist makes her debut at the Salon des Indépendants, followed by a big exhibition at Barbazanges in 1912 and at P. Rosenberg in 1920. From 1924 on Laurencin also works on designing stage sets. She does the set for Diaghilew's "Ballet russe" or, in 1928, for the "Comédie Francaise", for example. Beyond that she illustrates books, e.g. André Gide's "La Tentative Amoureuse" and Lewis Caroll's "Alice In Wonderland".