Audrey Bergner

Audrey Bergner was born in 1927 in Sydney

Audrey Bergner was born in Sydney in 1927 and grew up in Melbourne. Her father was of German descent and her mother of Scottish descent.

From 1943 to 1948 she studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne. There she met the painter Yosl Bergner, who was also a student.

In 1950 she moved to Israel with Yosl Bergner, and the couple lived and painted in Safed before settling in Tel Aviv. In the 1960s she began painting the Negev and its Bedouin in strong colors on large canvases. Later series included Birds, first shown in Melbourne in 2004.

She illustrated books and designed sets and costumes for Habima, the Cameri and the Yiddishpiel theaters. She worked often with Nissim Aloni and director Shmuel Bunim. She also wrote short stories in English about Tel Aviv, including Tel Aviv Stories in 2003.

Her works are held by the Israel Museum and the Haifa Museum of Art and are shown at the Hebrew University. She died in Tel Aviv on 9 May 2022 and was buried at Kibbutz Einat.