Marjane Satrapi, Author of ‘Persepolis’, Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, renowned Iranian-French artist, filmmaker, and author of “Persepolis”, has passed away at 56. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office confirmed her death on Thursday.

“Her passing marks that of a figure in French culture and an artist who loved freedom,” the Elysee Palace stated. Family members told AFP she died from sadness, following her husband Mattias Ripa’s death last year.

Born in 1969 to parents with communist leanings, Satrapi moved to Vienna as a teenager before returning to Iran for studies. She later relocated to France, where she pursued further education in Strasbourg.

“Persepolis”, a stark black-and-white memoir of her childhood during and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, became an international bestseller and was adapted into an animated film that won Cannes’ jury prize and an Academy Award nomination.

Satrapi’s work combined political defiance with dark humor and minimalistic visuals. She directed films like “Chicken with Plums”, “The Voices”, and “Radioactive”. In 2024, she designed a nine-meter wool triptych for the Paris Olympics, depicting athletes around the Eiffel Tower.

A vocal advocate for exile, women’s freedom, and against authoritarianism, Satrapi often used her platform to criticize Iran’s repression. In 2025, she declined France’s highest honor, the Legion of Honour, due to France’s “hypocritical attitude” towards Iran.