Born Marianne Hederström in Gällivare Lappland 1916, brought up in Kiruna and Skellefteå in Sweden.

The girl from the Far North who became photographer, author, world citizen and connoisseur of the art of living. "The greatest art is the art of living!" This is the description the American author Anaïs Nin gave of her friend Marianne Greenwood: "Marianne is the eternal vagabond. She is restless in big cities and she is always dreaming of far away places. She got a rare gift for friendship, not only for natives whose language she does not speak, but all who she temporarily pays visits to around the world. People just love to receive her. She is a wonderful storyteller. Listeners will be taken as by the wind to and fro - and will experience colours, smells and adventure - even without seeing the rich photographic material from alla her travels.

The greatest art is the art of living, says Marianne"

Just before the end of the War Marianne moved to Stockholm and the art school of design. After various jobs one as draftsman she moved to Switzerland and the hotel school in Lausanne. After a Paris sejour she went to Antibes in France, where she lived seven years in the Musée Picasso. Here she became the "in-house photographer" for the collection of the museum but she also portrayed Picasso and his wife Francoise Gilot and visting friends as Matisse, Chagall, Miró och Leger. In her sphere of friends there were also actors as Simone Signoret and Yves Montand as well as poets as Andre Verdet. The sculptor Gerard Lanvin was one of closest friends.
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To and from Marianne also worked in Sweden with the film directors Alf Kjellin and Lars-Magnus Lindgren.  
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At this time she also began a long friendship and co-operation with Evert Taube - the troubadour today regarded as a national poet of Sweden. He stayed for long period in Antibes. Together they roamed the Camarque in Southern France. During several decades she lived together with the ingenous people in the Americas, the Pacific Islands, in Papua New Guinea and parts of Asia.  

Marianne has contributed with her texts and photos in books and magazines in France, Germany, the United States, Sweden and other countries. Her own books has been published in several countries.

Marianne has received the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Wingsquest Foundation in New York.  The Evert Taube foundation has awarded her the 1984 Sjösalapriset.


Marianne’s life ended 2006 in her beloved Antibes.