Death of an Artist

About Death of an Artist

In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they choose to die together? And what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them? In season 3 of Death of an Artist, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael’s letters—as one married couple trying to understand another. Through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael’s friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers’ deaths and the final words they left behind. Listen back to season 2, where Katy Hessel offers an inside look at how Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner, changed everything about the landscape of modern art. And in season 1, host Helen Molesworth revisits the artist Ana Mendieta’s death and the trial that followed—interrogating both the silence and the protest that have accompanied her story ever since. Death of an Artist Season 1 is a co-production between Pushkin Industries, Somethin’ Else, and Sony Music Entertainment. Death of an Artist Season 2 is a co-production between Pushkin Industries and Samizdat Audio.

Publisher

Pushkin Industries

Category

arts · society & culture · true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

26 Aug 2022

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

24 of 37 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   From A Slight Change of Plans: “I Will Never Leave You”

   Host Maya Shankar interviews Lucy Kalanithi about her late husband Paul Kalanithi and how his death transformed her relationship to time.

2. 

   22 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 6: By the Time You Get This Letter

   Host Michael and guest Petra explore their final creative collaboration through poignant letters, revealing the profound connection between their relationship and their art.

3. 

   15 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 5: We Are Without Fear

   Host Alice and Leon explore Michael and Petra's families' end-of-life experiences to understand their courageous or cowardly suicide choice.

Inside a recent episode

From A Slight Change of Plans: “I Will Never Leave You”

Published 6 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I first came across Dr. Lucy Kalanithi when I read the book When Breath Becomes Air. It's a memoir written by Lucy's husband, Paul Kalanithi, who is also a medical doctor. He writes about his experience navigating a terminal cancer diagnosis in his 30s and his efforts to find peace with his impending death. Lucy wrote the epilogue for the book and helped to publish it posthumously. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Lucy lost Paul more than eight years ago. Their daughter, Katie, was just a baby at the time. I wanted to hear how Lucy reflects on her life with Paul after all these years. […]

Who has been a guest on Death of an Artist

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Lucy Kalanithi
• Tillmann
• Patricia Nilsson
• Alex Barker
• Ollie Wards

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

812,267

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

816 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

1,005 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 78 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

61

Social presence

97

YouTube

93

Engagement

94

Contact Death of an Artist

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Death of an Artist