Sibylle Szaggars: Robert Redford’s Widow, Her Art, Career & Life After His Death

Sibylle Szaggars is a German-born multimedia environmental artist whose career has centred on painting, nature, rain, and multidisciplinary performance. She is also widely known because of her marriage to actor and director Robert Redford, whom she married in Hamburg in 2009 and remained with until his death in September 2025. But reducing Sibylle Szaggars to “Robert Redford’s wife” misses the central fact of her public life: she had an established artistic practice before their marriage. She continued developing it alongside their shared environmental interests. Her Rainfall works, The Way of the Rain performances and Santa Fe gallery provide the clearest picture of her professional identity. As of 2026, her work remains connected to environmental awareness, visual art and collaborative performance.

Quick Bio

Who Is Sibylle Szaggars?

Sibylle Szaggars is a German-born multimedia environmental artist whose work treats nature not simply as a subject but as part of the creative process. The U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program describes her as an artist whose work is informed by a spiritual sense of humanity’s connection to land and the wider world. Her practice has included oil painting, photography, watercolour, film and live performance. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, the United States and other international locations.

Sibylle Szaggars’s public profile expanded considerably through her relationship with Robert Redford. Yet the chronology matters. She was already exhibiting as an artist and exploring cultural and environmental themes before the couple married. That helps us understand her as an artist who became part of a famous Hollywood family, rather than simply a celebrity spouse.

Early Life and Artistic Background

Sibylle Szaggars was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1957. Contemporary reporting on her 2009 marriage identified her as a Hamburg-born German artist, while biographical art sources place her birth year at 1957.

Authoritative public sources do not extensively document her private childhood or formal education, so it is better not to fill those gaps with unsupported biography. What is clear is that her artistic interests developed through travel and exposure to different cultures. Her documented work has drawn inspiration from places and traditions including Morocco and Indigenous communities in the American Southwest.

That international perspective became central to Sibylle Szaggars’s visual language. Rather than building a career around celebrity portraiture or conventional commercial art, she increasingly focused on abstraction, landscape, weather and the relationship between human beings and the natural environment.

From Painting to Rainfall Art

One defining development in Sibylle Szaggars’s career began in 2010 with her Rainfall series. The process was unusual: she prepared paper with abstract watercolour pigment compositions, then let New Mexico’s monsoon rain alter the work. Rain became an active collaborator rather than merely an image represented on the page. The U.S. Department of State documents this series and its connection to the New Mexican High Desert.

The idea gave her environmental concerns a physical form. Instead of painting a landscape and stopping when the artist decided the picture was finished, she introduced an element she could not completely control. Weather, water and timing became part of the composition.

That approach helps explain why Sibylle Szaggars is often described as a multimedia environmental artist. Her work crosses the boundary between traditional studio practice and performance. It also gives her paintings a direct relationship with place: the rain in New Mexico is not just inspiration but part of the making process.

The Way of the Rain and Environmental Activism

The next major step in Sibylle Szaggars’s career was The Way of the Rain. In 2013, she and Icelandic composer and musician David Thor Jonsson developed the concept for a staged performance combining music, dance, film, light, spoken word and her large “Rain Painting Silks.” The work was first performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In November 2015, Sibylle Szaggars founded The Way of the Rain, Inc., a nonprofit organisation built around educational and artistic performances that encourage public awareness of the Earth’s beauty, fragility and environmental threats. The organisation continues to identify her as Founder, President and Artistic Director.

The project also became an important point of collaboration between Sibylle Szaggars and Robert Redford. Redford contributed spoken-word narration to some versions of the work, while other collaborators have included composers, filmmakers, choreographers and performers. The organisation says the project has been presented in the United States and internationally, including at Carnegie Hall.

A later production, The Way of the Rain – Hope for Earth, expanded the concept into a large-scale performance for orchestra, chorus, film, art and spoken word. EarthX Film and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra presented its U.S. premiere in October 2022.

Marriage to Robert Redford

Sibylle Szaggars and Robert Redford married in July 2009 in Hamburg, Germany, after a long relationship. The wedding was held at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel, with about 30 friends and family members reportedly attending. A spokesperson from Hamburg’s St. Catherine Church confirmed the marriage at the time.

People have reported that the couple met in 1996 at Redford’s Sundance Mountain Resort and that their relationship remained relatively private. Their shared interest in environmental issues became one of the strongest connections between their public and professional lives.

For Sibylle Szaggars, the marriage brought greater visibility, but it did not create her artistic career. Her own exhibitions, environmental projects and later nonprofit work existed on a separate professional track.

The couple did not have children together. Szaggars became stepmother to Redford’s children from his first marriage. Public reporting has also noted the family’s experience of significant loss, including the deaths of Redford’s sons Scott and James. However, those events belong to the wider Redford family history rather than to Szaggars’s own artistic biography.

Life After Robert Redford’s Death

Robert Redford died on September 16, 2025, at age 89. His death changed how entertainment coverage describes Sibylle Szaggars: she is now his widow. Reputable biographies and reporting identify her as the artist who married Redford in 2009 and remained with him until his death.

For Sibylle Szaggars, however, life after Redford is not defined only by bereavement. Her professional work has continued through The Way of the Rain and her visual-art practice. The organisation’s current materials still identify her as Founder, President and Artistic Director.

Her professional record also shows a continued connection to Santa Fe. In 2023, the Sibylle Szaggars Redford Fine Art gallery opened at a Santa Fe address and presented her environmental multimedia work and exhibitions. Her official site continues to promote a portfolio and artwork for sale.

Art, Gallery Work and Current Career

Szaggars’s current artistic identity is especially visible in Santa Fe. Her official gallery describes a body of work developed over more than four decades, including pieces connected to rainfall and The Shape of Colour.

Her portfolio shows recurring themes from her career: abstract forms, rain-altered works, environmental imagery and pieces connected with international cultural experiences. The gallery also provides a direct channel for commissions and sales, which makes it easier to distinguish her ongoing art career from the celebrity coverage surrounding her marriage.

The Way of the Rain remains the other major pillar of her professional work. Its mission is explicitly educational and environmental, using staged art to encourage people to think about the planet and its vulnerabilities. The project has included collaborations with musicians, filmmakers and other artists, reflecting the interdisciplinary approach that has shaped Sibylle Szaggars’s career for years.

There is no reliable public figure for Sibylle Szaggars’s net worth. Treat online estimates cautiously. Her gallery and art sales show commercial activity, but they don’t provide enough information to calculate her personal wealth. Presenting an unsourced dollar amount as fact would be misleading.

Why Sibylle Szaggars Matters Beyond Her Marriage

She moved from painting and photography to an approach in which weather could physically influence an artwork, then expanded that idea into performance involving music, film, dance, light, and spoken word.

Her environmental focus is also central to that development. Her work does not treat climate and nature only as political subjects. Instead, she uses the creative process itself to make environmental change tangible. Rain can alter the painting; performance can combine different artistic voices; film can place the viewer inside a larger natural system.

Conclusion

Sibylle Szaggars is best understood as an environmental artist whose public profile has two closely connected sides: a long independent career in visual and multimedia art and a 16-year marriage to Robert Redford. Her Rainfall series turned New Mexico monsoon rain into part of the artistic process, while The Way of the Rain developed that idea into an interdisciplinary environmental performance.

Since Redford died in 2025, Sibylle Szaggars has remained professionally associated with The Way of the Rain and her Santa Fe art practice. Her story is therefore not simply one of life after a famous husband. It is the continuing story of an artist whose work has consistently connected creativity, collaboration and concern for the natural world.

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(FAQs)

Who is Szaggars?

Sibylle Szaggars is a German-born multimedia environmental artist known for abstract painting, rain-based artwork and The Way of the Rain, a multidisciplinary environmental performance project.

When did Sibylle Szaggars marry Robert Redford?

Sibylle Szaggars married Robert Redford in July 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. The ceremony was a private gathering with about 30 friends and family members.

What happened to Robert Redford?

Robert Redford died on September 16, 2025, at age 89. He was survived by his wife, Sibylle Szaggars, as well as his children and grandchildren.

Does Sibylle Szaggars have children?

According to reputable reporting, Sibylle Szaggars and Robert Redford did not have children together. She became stepmother to Redford’s children from his earlier marriage.

What is The Way of the Rain?

The Way of the Rain is an environmental arts organisation founded by Sibylle Szaggars in 2015. It uses music, visual art, film, dance, light and spoken word to encourage awareness of the Earth and environmental challenges.

Where does Sibylle Szaggars work now?

Sibylle Szaggars continues her art and environmental work from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her official gallery operates there, while The Way of the Rain still lists her as Founder, President, and Artistic Director.

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