Sarah Bernhardt was a visual artist as well as a theatrical star. Both were important facets of her overall public persona as well as her considerable professional reputation. While much has been written about her colorful life in the theatre, her visual art has been almost totally neglected despite its significance.
This thesis argues that her visual art must be understood as having played a major role in Bernhardt's professional career, and was a key reason she enjoyed such long lasting fame and continued to fascinate critics and the public over several decades. This groundbreaking research uncovers much regarding her artistic career as a sculptor and painter that has previously been ignored, and establishes her as a performance artist who embraced the visual arts as a major element in the development of her superstardom.