Sylvia Plath
(1932-1963), Poet and writerSitter in 5 portraits
Artist of 1 portrait
Plath was a leading writer whose 'confessional poetry', journals as well as her suicide and subsequent re-appraisal have established her status. Born in Boston, Plath moved to England with a Fulbright scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge. There she met fellow poet Ted Hughes. Her first collection of poems The Colossus was published in 1960. Her marriage to Ted Hughes was troubled by his infidelity and by her own disturbed psychological history, elements of which informed her celebrated novel The Bell Jar (1963). The vicissitudes of their relationship were described in Plath's journals, and were later evoked by Hughes in his collection of poems, Birthday Letters (1998).
by Harry Ogden
gelatin silver print, 1956
NPG P2012
acrylic on paper collaged on panels, 2021-2022
On display in Room 33 on Floor 0 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 7145
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by Rollie McKenna
bromide print, 1959
NPG x137160
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