Death of an Artist

Episoade

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  Episode 5: We Are Without Fear 15.09.2026 43min

  “I wrestle with: Was it courage, or was it cowardice?” This question animates a memorial service for Michael and Petra, held several months after their death. Alice and Leon want to understand it as well: Was Michael and Petra’s suicide a move toward something, or away from something else? To figure it out, they reach out to Michael and Petra’s families, to find out what examples they had from their own parents’ end-of-life experiences that might have led them to this choice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 4: Bird on a Wire 08.09.2026 41min

  “It brought up all the things I've never done. All the risks I haven't taken. It was always about trying to be free, you know?” According to Michael Mathers’s first true love, he was always a romantic. Was the death orchestrated with Petra the ending of a love story he’d been trying to craft all along? Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 3: The Train Has Left the Station 01.09.2026 43min

  “I have never regretted my decision, only the amount of unhappiness it caused you. Still, unforgivingness is the product of those who feel it.”  When Petra and Michael died, they left everyone in their lives behind. But it wasn’t the first time: When Petra first fell in love with Michael, she left her son Tillmann to be with him. In an interview with Alice and Leon, Tillmann reckons with his mother's choices and the marks they left on his own life.  Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 2: It’s Lonely Without You, Friends 25.08.2026 46min

  “I would've screamed. I would've shouted. I would've cried out. I would've protested. I would've given a million reasons to not leave this world.” Michael and Petra left their house and the logistics of their afterlife to their friend Patty—unbeknownst to Patty’s sister Virginia, who considered herself one of Michael and Petra’s best friends. Patty and Virginia have different perspectives on what Michael and Petra did, but they agree on what it was like to be around them as a couple: awestruck and a bit excluded, something even Alice and Leon pick up on while looking at their dozens of photo albums. Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 1: Dear Honeys 25.08.2026 39min

  DISCLAIMER:  This podcast is about suicide. Listener discretion is advised "When Michael and I got together some 40 plus years ago, we’d always planned on checking out together." In February of 2024, a letter arrived at the pharmacy in Astoria, Oregon. It was from local residents Petra and Michael Mathers, and they wanted to let the pharmacists know that they had died—by suicide. Petra was a celebrated children’s book author and illustrator. Michael was a photographer. And as police investigated their deaths, they discovered a whole network of people around the country who had received similar letters. Journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory, who have themselves been married for more than 10 years, visit Oregon to begin putting together the pieces of Petra and Michael’s shared life: the start of their love story, and the end. And they set out to interview everyone who received a letter from Michael and Petra, to try to understand why a couple who was seemingly so happy and in love would want to end their lives. Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Introducing Death of an Artist Season 3: Petra Mathers and Her Michael 18.08.2026 3min

  When Alice Gregory and Leon Neyfakh started building a library for their infant daughter, they stumbled across a name in an obituary that Alice recognized from her own childhood: celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers. Petra had died by suicide alongside her husband, Michael Mathers. Both were in their late 70s, seemingly happy and healthy. The details of Petra and Michael’s deaths pulled Alice and Leon down a rabbit hole that neither were expecting—a plan many years in the making, dozens of letters mailed out across the country, friends and family caught between betrayal and envy, and a community grappling with their own feelings around aging and death. Death of an Artist drops weekly on Tuesdays starting August 25. Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+. Subscribers also get bonus episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and early ad-free listening for all Pushkin shows. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Bonus: The Women on the Scene with Audrey Flack 23.08.2024 16min

  Artist, musician and writer Audrey Flack shares her firsthand accounts of the downtown New York City art scene in the mid-twentieth-century and a song she and her band, The History of Art, wrote about Jackson Pollock.  Flack passed away in June. For more about her life, see “Audrey Flack, Creator of Vibrant Photorealist Art, Dies at 93.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Bonus: Krasner's Way with Eleanor Nairne 28.06.2024 25min

  Katy speaks with Eleanor Nairne, who first introduced her to Lee Kranser’s work. Back in 2019, Nairne exhibited a groundbreaking retrospective of Lee Krasner’s work while she was senior curator at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. Today she is the Keith L. and Catherine Sacks Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this episode, a dive into Krasner’s artistic career.  Artwork Discussed: Joan Miro Constellations (1940-41) Mosaic Table (1947) Stop and Go (1949) Prophecy (1956) Birth (1956) Three in Two (1956) Pablo Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) Earth Green (1957)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 6: A Phoenix From the Ashes 21.06.2024 24min

  1956. New York City. After Pollock’s death, Krasner balances her new role as executor of his estate and her ambitions to continue making art.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 5: The Kiss of Death 14.06.2024 22min

  1955. Upper West Side. Jackson Pollock seeks help from a psychotherapist practicing controversial methods.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 4: Jackson Pollock Inc. 07.06.2024 28min

  1945. East Hampton. Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock start a new life in a farmhouse 100 miles east of New York City.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 3: The Collector 31.05.2024 33min

  1942. Midtown. Peggy Guggenheim arrives, opens a gallery and gives hungry artists hope.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 2: Inner Rhythm 24.05.2024 29min

  1936. Brooklyn. A young Lee Krasner leaves home and starts to create a kind of art America has never seen before.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 1: Crash 17.05.2024 21min

  1956. Paris. An artist named Lee Krasner learns that her husband is dead.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Death of an Artist Season 2: Krasner and Pollock 03.05.2024 3min

  On May 17th, Death of an Artist returns with an all new season hosted by Katy Hessel about the woman who made the modern art world: Lee Krasner. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  An Epilogue: Live from A.I.R. Gallery 20.12.2022 31min

  A live audience and curator Patricia Margarita Hernandez join Helen at the A.I.R. gallery in this epilogue to the series. The conversation moves from generational shifts in the artworld to Helen’s own Robin Hood fantasy – and ends with some pushback from an audience member who knew Ana.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  The Numbers 04.11.2022 22min

  In the wake of the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements, art museums began publicly touting their dedication to diversity. In this episode, we hear from two arts journalists about whether there are actually more artworks by women and people of color on the walls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 6: The Reckoning 21.10.2022 42min

  Today, Carl Andre lives in the same apartment where Ana fell to her death. Helen investigates and grapples with what his not guilty verdict means and chips away at the silence the art world has used to protect both Andre and itself. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 5: The Silencing 14.10.2022 40min

  Carl Andre is acquitted. Decades later, the art world remains divided about his innocence. In order to protect Carl, the art world maintained a strict separation between the art and the artist and used silence to preserve the status quo. But a few remain vocal. To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Episode 4: The Genius Problem 07.10.2022 43min

  Carl stands trial for the murder of Ana Mendieta. His defense ruthlessly attacks Ana, using her artwork against her, and rests heavily on his prestige in the art world. Helen reveals her personal connection to Carl Andre and his work, and how it changed her career. To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.