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Robert Redford, the acclaimed actor and director best known for his role in the iconic film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and as the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, passed away in September 2025 at the age of 89. While fans around the world celebrate his extraordinary career, his family, particularly his second wife, Sibylle Szaggars, grieves the loss of the man beyond the public eye. Redford and Szaggars shared 16 years of marriage, built on mutual creativity and respect.
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Throughout their marriage, Redford and Szaggars, despite their significant age difference, bonded over their shared passion for the arts. Szaggars, an accomplished artist, expressed her creativity through various mediums, including oil sketches, photographs, oil paintings, and watercolor abstracts. Her personal website highlights her diverse portfolio, which was recently showcased in an exhibition in May 2023, just two years before Redford’s passing. Redford was a steadfast supporter of Szaggars’ artistic endeavors.
Today, Szaggars continues to develop and share her artistic creations, often inspired by nature, through online platforms. While she does not maintain a personal Instagram presence, the Sibylle Szaggars Redford Fine Art Gallery actively updates followers on her latest projects and artworks, and it was also the source that announced Redford’s passing.
Today, Szaggars continues to nurture her talent by creating and selling her art, largely shaped by nature, on the internet. While she doesn’t have a personal Instagram account, the Sibylle Szaggars Redford Fine Art Gallery, which also shared the news of Redford’s passing, often promotes her artwork and latest projects on the platform.
Sibylle Szaggars is the visionary behind the collaborative art initiative “The Way of the Rain,” launched in 2013 alongside composer David Thor Jonsson. This project has evolved through various forms, incorporating film, dance, painting, spoken word, and music, among other mediums. Notable performances like “The Way of the Rain: Hope For Earth” and “The Way of the Rain: Reflections on Earth,” narrated by Redford himself, aim to highlight the urgent issue of climate change and the fragile balance of our planet.
Sibylle Szaggars still works as an artist
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Environmental consciousness was a shared passion for the couple, especially for Szaggars, whose art frequently reflects her commitment to nature. In an interview with Big Life Magazine, Szaggars explained, “Having been an environmental artist for decades, I felt I needed a stronger voice to create awareness and open up conscientiousness.” This motivation spurred the creation of “The Way of the Rain.” She elaborated, “I decided to create a staged, live, and moving painting through the addition of other art forms… This underlined my concern for our planet and in collaboration with my rain painting process I envisioned ‘The Way of the Rain.'”
Redford passed away before “The Way of the Rain: Hope for Earth” could make its European debut. According to an Instagram post made by Szaggar’s gallery, the film was “featured as part of the Weekend Caritatif Exclusif Europe I USA: Save a Castle to Create a Museum, a two-day celebration uniting art, environment, heritage, and gastronomy,” on October 11, 2025.
Environmental activism was incredibly important to both spouses, but especially Sibylle, whose art usually has a tie to nature. “Having been an environmental artist for decades, I felt I needed a stronger voice to create awareness and open up conscientiousness,” Sibylle shared with Big Life Magazine. This desire led to the creation of “The Way of the Rain.” She continued, “I decided to create a staged, live, and moving painting through the addition of other art forms […] This underlined my concern for our planet and in collaboration with my rain painting process I envisioned ‘The Way of the Rain.’”