[2][3] She studied at St Hilda's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1965.
[1] For the 2009/2010 academic year, she was the Slade Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford:[2] the lecture series she gave was titled "Surrealism and the avant-garde in Europe and the Americas".
[1][7] In 1966, the then Dawn Tylden-Pattenson married the British poet and translator Timothy Adès.
[9][10] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to art history".
[11] In the 2013 New Year Honours, she was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to higher education and art history".