Leonor Fini

Argentine/Italian, 1908-1996

Leonor Fini was an Argentinian-born, Italian-raised artist whose independent vision placed her both within and beyond the canon of 20th-century modernism. Best known for her paintings, illustrations, and theatrical designs, Fini’s work drew from myth, the unconscious, and archetypes of feminine power. Though often associated with the Surrealists, she never formally joined the movement, rejecting its patriarchal constraints. Her inclusion in MoMA’s Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism in 1936 marked a defining moment in her career.

Raised in Trieste and Milan, Fini was self-taught, absorbing classical traditions through books, travel, and observation. A signature motif in her work—the sphinx, part woman, part lion—embodied her fascination with transformation and eroticism. After moving to Paris in 1931, she quickly gained recognition for her imaginative portraits and dreamlike tableaux. Beyond the canvas, she contributed prolifically to opera, ballet, and fashion, notably designing the bottle for Elsa Schiaparelli’s "Shocking" perfume.

Her work was widely exhibited in her lifetime, with retrospectives across Europe and Asia, and now resides in major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Today, Fini is celebrated not only for her technical mastery and theatrical imagination, but also for her explorations of gender, identity, and autonomy.