Vera Klement, a Holocaust survivor who was known for paintings that combined elements of Abstract Expressionism and figurative art, died on Oct. 20 in Evanston, IL. She was 93.

“Abstract Expressionism suited me, I suppose, as far as a worldview: the notion of being at risk, on the edge, existential,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “And I think that has remained with me. It was the basis of my way of looking at art as heroic and tragic.”

“She retired in 2019, had been making fewer paintings,” said Max Shapey, her son. “She hadn’t run out of ideas. But she looked at her last painting, ‘Carpeted,’ an Abstract Expressionist painting of a flying carpet, and she said ‘I’ve said everything I want to.’”