[3] Born Gunilla Palmstierna on 28 March 1928 in Lausanne, Switzerland,[4] Palmstierna-Weiss grew up in the Netherlands and Austria.

[3] Her parents divorced when she was young, and she lived in Rotterdam and Berlin with her mother during World War II.

After the war, she studied art in Amsterdam and Paris before moving to Sweden where she has remained since.

[3] In 1964 she married German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker Peter Weiss.

She won a Tony Award in 1966 for her costume designs in Weiss's Marat/Sade, which were later used in the 1967 film version directed by Peter Brook.