Annabel Buffet: Artist and Muse of Bernard Buffet
Annabel Buffet, born Annabel Schwob de Lure in 1928 and deceased in 2005, was a French writer and singer. She is best known as the wife and muse of painter Bernard Buffet. She published sixteen essays and novels and recorded several albums.
Annabel Buffet’s Childhood and Education
- her mother died by suicide when she was seven years old
- her father took his own life a few years later
She continued her studies in Cannes before taking drama classes at the Académie Julian in Paris. She later worked as a model and became part of the artistic circle of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, quickly emerging as one of the emblematic figures of its golden age. She formed close friendships with Françoise Sagan and Juliette Gréco.
Meeting and Marriage with Bernard Buffet
Annabel Buffet met Bernard Buffet in June 1958 in Saint-Tropez. Their mutual friend Luc Fournol arranged their meeting during a photoshoot.
She married Bernard Buffet in Ramatuelle at the end of 1958. The couple adopted three children: Virginie, Danielle and Nicolas.
Annabel Buffet, Muse of Bernard Buffet
In 1958, Bernard Buffet had just separated from Pierre Bergé. Though at the height of his artistic career, he was experiencing a period of creative doubt. His emerging passion for Annabel gave him renewed inspiration.
Annabel became Bernard Buffet’s muse. An accomplished artist in her own right, she moved effortlessly between writing and singing, inspiring her husband through both her beauty and talent.
In 1961, Bernard Buffet dedicated an entire series of paintings and an exhibition to her: Thirty Times Annabel.
> View the biography of Bernard Buffet
Living for Art and Love
From 1959 to 2001, Annabel Buffet published sixteen essays and novels while releasing albums and pursuing artistic collaborations.
Her literary style was often compared to that of Françoise Sagan, and her voice to Juliette Gréco’s. With characteristic wit, she remarked: “As long as they don’t say that I sing like Sagan and write like Gréco…”
In 1986, in D’amour et d’eau fraîche, she recounted the alcoholism that engulfed the couple and her gradual recovery. She described the ordeal of detoxification with clarity, delving into her memories to uncover the roots of her suffering. She reflected on the traumas of her childhood, her mother’s suicide, and the war years she spent in hiding because she was Jewish, while her father had fled.
From this inner journey, she emerged determined to live for art and love, at least for a time.
The Death of Bernard Buffet and Annabel Buffet’s Final Years
On 4 October 1999, Bernard Buffet took his own life. Devastated by her husband’s death, Annabel left the Domaine de la Baume and moved to the Yonne region. In Post-Scriptum, she described her suffering and profound sense of inner loss.
Struggling with abandonment and grief, she eventually relapsed into alcoholism.
She passed away in 2005 at the age of 77 at the American Hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine. Her ashes were scattered in Provence, the land she and her husband cherished deeply.
She leaves behind not only her literary works but also several albums and notable appearances in cinema, including Jean Cocteau’s Les Enfants Terribles. She also wrote the dialogue for the film Les Vieux Gamins by Guy Job, adapted from her novel of the same name.