Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis' who gave Iran's story a universal voice, dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French artist, filmmaker and author of the autobiographical graphic novel 'Persepolis', has died at the age of 56. Her family announced her death on Thursday, stating she had died of 'sadness' a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish actor, producer and screenwriter Mattias Ripa, who died on 8 April 2025.

A life in exile, drawn in black and white

Born in 1969 in Rasht, on the Caspian Sea, Satrapi grew up in a secular, politically engaged family in Tehran. Her childhood was interrupted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war that followed. At 14, her parents sent her to Vienna for school. She later returned to Iran to study visual communication, married and divorced, before leaving for France in the mid-1990s. She settled in Paris and studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg.

When I arrived in Paris, the absence of fun is what surprised me most. It was Paris, a grey city. People had dinners and everyone talked about Mitterrand's death, then argued about Alain Juppé. Is this the party?

The 'Persepolis' phenomenon

Satrapi drew on her life of revolution, exile and return in 'Persepolis', the stark black-and-white memoir that chronicled her childhood during and after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Published in four volumes between 2000 and 2003, the graphic novel became an international success. In 2007, she co-directed an animated film adaptation with Vincent Paronnaud, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

You changed the world with comic books and you didn't give a damn about comic books.

A voice for Iranian women and freedom

Satrapi became a prominent voice on exile, women's freedom and authoritarianism, frequently using her public platform to denounce repression in Iran. In 2025, she refused the Legion of Honour, France's top order of merit, citing what French media reported as France's 'hypocritical attitude' toward Iran.

I can't continue seeing the children of Iranian oligarchs come to spend their holidays in France, even become naturalized, while at the same time young dissidents have difficulty in obtaining a tourist visa to come to see what the country of the Enlightenment and human rights looks like.

Tributes from the world of arts and politics

French President Emmanuel Macron's office said her passing was that of 'a figure of French culture and of an artist enamored of freedom, whose work carried a universal message and had earned her immense international renown.' The mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, called her a 'genius, free and creative artist.' The president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, said Satrapi had 'made her work an act of freedom' and 'given a face and a voice to the Iranian revolution, raising the battle for the freedom and dignity of women.'

Listening to her talk about women, about Iran, about freedom of expression, about freedom itself, gave energy and hope. She was a radically free woman. Free to live from her art, free to die of grief.

A legacy beyond 'Persepolis'

Satrapi went on to direct films including 'Chicken with Plums', 'The Voices' and 'Radioactive', about scientist Marie Skłodowska Curie. She also designed a nine-metre wool triptych for the Paris 2024 Olympics, showing athletes competing around the Eiffel Tower. Fellow artists including Riad Sattouf, Pénélope Bagieu and Christophe Blain paid tribute, with Sattouf noting that 'her work opened a path that many have followed, and I was the first.'