Leonor Fini was the life of the party during the French Surrealist movement. A socialite with connections to some of the movement's biggest names, Fini was also an astoundingly gifted artist in her own right. In fact, many consider her to be the most fiercely independent female artist of the 20th century. A theatrical personality, Fini created prints, paintings and drawings that are widely revered for their sensuous qualities and raw energy.
Fini's life started off in a dramatic fashion, which was perhaps a portent of things to come. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1907, but her parents separated soon after and her mother took her away to Trieste, Italy. Due to her father's attempts to kidnap her, Fini was often dressed as a boy throughout her childhood.
Fini was surrounded by artistic women in Trieste, and she naturally developed a love for art as well. By the time she was 17, she had become familiar with Renaissance art and Mannerist painting and was exhibiting her own portraits. In 1931, at just 24 years of age, Fini moved to Paris and became acquainted with influential artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlos Carrà. She also met and started a romantic relationship with Surrealist pioneer Max Ernst, who introduced her to others in the movement.
Though she had no formal art education, Fini proved herself to be both technically masterful and creatively exceptional. Her work and her flamboyant personality attracted the attention of many of the 20th century's most celebrated artists and thinkers, including Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, Albert Camus and Jean Genet, just to name a very few. She exhibited her work in many Parisian art galleries, including the gallery of Christian Dior before the fashion icon became a designer.
In the 1950s, Fini continued painting while immersing herself in other artistic and dramatic endeavors, including theater costume and mask design. She also designed posters for the Paris Opera and wardrobes for movies.
Fini continued living and painting in Paris for the rest of her life. She died in 1996.
On 1stDibs, find original Leonor Fini prints, paintings and drawings.
Le Concile d'Amour - Gouache on Paper Unique Surrealist Woman Painter, 1968
By Leonor Fini
Located in New York, NY
Leonor Fini Le Concile d'amour, 1968 Gouache on paper 14 1/5 × 11 4/5 in l 36 × 30 cm Frame included - 22 x 18 1/8 in l 56 x 46 cm Signed, counter-signed and titled lower right Cond...
Gouache
$1,920
10a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches paper Exemplaire B/165
Archival Paper, Lithograph
$1,920
3a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, in the...
Lithograph, Archival Paper
$1,920
1b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
10b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
3b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Archival Paper, Lithograph
$1,920
12b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
4b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
9b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
4a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches paper Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, ...
Archival Paper, Lithograph
$1,920
1a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches Exemplaire B/165 Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, in the...
Lithograph, Archival Paper
$2,850
H 17 in W 13 in D 1 in
"Bluebird Teapot" Contemporary Surrealist painting bird and reflection in teapot
By Thomas Broadbent
Located in New York, NY
This contemporary surrealist painting depicts a blue bird perched atop a silver and blue round teapot. The reflection of a room in a round steel teapot offers a highly curved, disto...
Watercolor, Archival Paper
$845
H 20 in W 25 in
Turquoise Cubist Seated Female Figure French Modernist Gouache Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Cubist Seated Female Figure French Modernist Gouache Painting 20th Century Laure Noetzlin-Azam (French, 1929–2024) Pupil of André Lhote. Medium: gouache on artist paper, unframed. Ar...
Gouache
$4,160Sale Price|20% Off
H 22.25 in W 7.5 in
Female Figure on paper, Bright Bold, Woman Table Series II by America Martin
By America Martin
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
America Martin "Woman & Table Series II", 2010 Pencil & Ink on Cotton Paper 22.25 x 7.5 in (56.52 x 19.05 cm) America Martin is an internationally represented Colombian-Amer...
Ink, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Oil
$6,800Sale Price|20% Off
H 19.75 in W 26.25 in
Figures on paper, Bold lines, Orchestra, Untitled Musicians by America Martin
By America Martin
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
America Martin "Untitled Musicians" Mixed Media on Paper 19.75 x 26.25 in (50.16 x 66.68 cm) America Martin is an internationally represented Colombian-American fine artist based in...
Acrylic, Archival Paper, Ink
$7,500
H 40 in W 30 in
Desire - Nude Lovers Entangled in a Passionate Kiss, Oil on Paper on Canvas
By Bruno Surdo
Located in Chicago, IL
This painting demonstrates Bruno Surdo’s deep grounding in classical figurative tradition while addressing intimacy in a distinctly contemporary register. The tightly compressed composition—two nude bodies locked in a kiss—recalls Renaissance and Baroque explorations of entwined figures, from Michelangelo’s sculptural studies of interlocking forms to Caravaggio’s emotionally charged chiaroscuro. The anatomical modeling is central: the musculature of the male back, the subtle weight shift in the female torso, and the nuanced transitions of light across flesh reveal Surdo’s atelier training and commitment to Renaissance draftsmanship. The dark, atmospheric background isolates the figures, heightening their sculptural presence and intensifying the psychological focus. Art historically, the pose evokes both sacred and mythological precedents—embraces seen in depictions of Venus and Mars, Cupid and Psyche, or even the sensual gravity of Rodin’s later sculptural couples. Yet Surdo strips away allegorical attributes and narrative setting. The white drapery loosely gathered at the woman’s hip subtly references classical sculpture, where cloth both conceals and accentuates form. Unlike historical idealization, however, these bodies feel lived-in and human rather than mythic. Surdo’s broader practice often stages grand allegories or mythological conflicts; here he distills that tradition into a singular moment of private intensity. The painting bridges past and present, demonstrating how the language of Renaissance form and Baroque light can still articulate modern vulnerability, desire, and connection without relying on overt narrative symbolism. Bruno Surdo Desire oil on paper on canvas 40h x 30w in 101.60h x 76.20w cm BRS086 Bruno A. Surdo b. Chicago, 1963 EXHIBITIONS 2021 Ethos + Truth, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2020 Realities, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2018 Liberation, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Blood Sport, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Art on Paper 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Pier 36, New York, NY SOFA Chicago 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2017 POP!ARAZZI, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Coming Attractions, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2015 SOFA Chicago 2015, Ann Nathan Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Allegories, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2014 Bruno Surdo: Respond, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Modern Metaphors, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL 2013 Bruno Surdo: Revelations, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Vice + Virtue, Northern Illinois University Museum of Art 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN 2011 Bruno Surdo, University of St. Francis School of Creative Arts, Fort Wayne, IN Uncensored, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2010 Art Chicago 2010, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2009 Art Chicago 2009, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2007 Bruno Surdo, Art Institute of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 2006 Context/Content: Making Meaning with the Figure, University of Arkansas, Conway, AR Creative Imaginings, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL Bruno Surdo: Cycles, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2005 Art Chicago 2005, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2004 Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2004, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Group Show, Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY Drawings VII, Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA Armory Show, New York Armory, New York, NY 2003 Paintings & Drawings, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL The Art Show, New York, NY Bruno Surdo: New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2003, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003-10 International Show of Contemporary Artists, Chicago Art Open, Chicago, IL 2002 Bruno Surdo: Perception of Appearance, Frye Museum, Seattle, WA Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Transcendence, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2002, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR 1998 Evanston and Vicinity Artists, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL 1996 Bruno Surdo: A Personal View, University of Wisconsin, Kenosha, WI 1995 Bruno Surdo: Recent Works, College of Lake County, IL AIDS in Our Society, Loyola University, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Life, Struggle, and Hope, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR Bruno Surdo: Dualities of Life, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 Group Show, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1998 Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL 1995 Spiritual Inquiries, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL 1994 Recent Works, The 14th Annual Juried Exhibition for Lake County Artists, Grayslake, IL Go Figure, Figurative Works on Paper, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Chicago, IL SELECTED COLLECTIONS The Re-Birth of Venus, Temporary Loan, Fort Wayne Museum of Art Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR College of Lake County, Greyslake, IL Flashpoint Academy, Chicago IL John Robert Wiltgen Design Shoemaker Ruud Collection Julie & Thomas Danilek Michael Vozzella and Mike Silver Benjamin Fernandez Tom Braake Betsy Colburn Michael Diemand & Lor LaRose Michael Staab & Kathy Brock Bruce Leep Frank Tzurect Mary Foley Rosalyn Carlson Mimmy Turney Janet Long Halstead Billy Hunt Carol Galli Myles Kerrigan Honorable & Mrs. Edwin Berman Theodore Gage Northrop Art Museum Past Present & Future Company Dr. James & Peggy Kemmler Salvatore Monastero Nix & Virginia Lauridsen Joel Miller David & Marlene Zerkel Ann & Andy Abel Claudia Rush Marc Miller Leonard Goldberg Lawrence Pucci Howard Tullman Collection Susan & Manny Kramer James Rinnert Richar Interiors Michael & Nancy Colt Khalid Altijir Dr. Joe Grodman Beryl & Jack Gore Larry Wolf & Eric Naegle Chuck Wolandi Jack Schwab & David Sandelin Thomas Kaczmarek Marti Dinerstein Craig & Michael Golden...
Canvas, Oil, Archival Paper
$395
H 10 in W 11.25 in D 0.5 in
19th C Royal Couple; Pair Chinese Pith Paintings Qing Dynasty. China, Circa 1855
Located in Incline Village, NV
Lovely and authentic all original mid 19th century pair of small Chinese Pith Paintings; under glass and double matted in a single plain narrow black straight reeded trimmed wooden f...
Watercolor, Rice Paper
Figurative Painting by Cuban Artist Carlos Quintana
By Carlos Quintana
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Carlos Quintana is a contemporary Cuban artist known for his expressive paintings which meld collective memory, fantasy, and personal symbolism. Often featuring bald figures, Quintan...
Oil Pastel, Oil, Archival Paper
$1,000
H 7.5 in W 6.5 in
Simka Simkhovitch WPA W/C Painting Gouache American Modernist Beach Scene Nude
By Simka Simkhovitch
Located in Surfside, FL
Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not. These were studies for larger paintin...
Watercolor, Gouache, Board
$420
H 10.13 in W 12.25 in D 0.5 in
Mid 19th Century Performative Themed Chinese Framed Watercolor On Pith Paper
Located in Incline Village, NV
This circa 1855 Chinese hand painted pith painting portrays a Chinese tradition of a celebratory warrior dance to display fighting dominance; the two parties being a typical warrior ...
Watercolor, Rice Paper
$309
H 19 in W 16 in D 1 in
Lady, Wash on Paper, Green, Blue by Indian Contemporary Artist "In Stock"
By Mintu Naiya
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Mintu Naiya - Lady - 11 x 8 inches ( unframed size ) Wash on Paper ** Shipped in roll form. About the Artist & his Art work : Born : November, 1976. Education : Graduate from Calc...
Paper, Washi Paper
$900
H 16.15 in W 11.82 in
Untitled 20 - Series 2019, Contemporary Abstract Painting, Textile Lightness
By Tomasz Prymon
Located in Hallein, AT
About Prymon’s Exhibition Dopaminum and his paintings: ”Dopaminum” - Tomasz Prymon Dopamine – colloquially referred to as the hormone of love and happiness. Why is this organic che...
Acrylic, Handmade Paper
$930
H 21.5 in W 18.5 in D 1.75 in
"Tighties" 1950's Gouache Male Nude Mid Century Painting
By Jerry Opper
Located in Arp, TX
From the estate of Jerry Opper & Ruth Friedman Opper Tighties c. 1950's Gouache on Paper 15" x 18" blue lacquered frame 18.5"x1.75"x21.5" Unsigned From the estate of Ruth Friedmann Opper & Jerry Opper. Ruth was the daughter of Bauhaus artist, Gustav Friedmann...
Paper, Gouache
Portrait of Pao Ying
By Leonor Fini
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Portrait of Pao Ying" is a painting by Surrealist Leonor Fini. The painting is signed lower right, "Leonor Fini". The framed portrait measures 19 7/8 x 14 5/8 x 1 1/2 in. The sitter, Pao Ying (spelled in catalogue raisonne Pao Weng), was a close friend of Leonor Fini. Pao was also an artist, a jewelry designer. This is the only known painting by Fini of a Chinese woman. The frame is original. Leonor Fini (1907 – 1996) was born in Argentina, grew up in Italy, and spent much of her adult life in Paris working alongside such modern masters as Max Ernst, Andre Breton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and George Balanchine. A self-taught artist, Fini’s work spans many mediums, including drawing, printmaking, costume design, and theatrical sets. As a painter, Fini is typically grouped with European surrealism, although she rejected what she considered the reductive labels of art movements. Nonetheless, Fini’s work engages with the unconscious and includes fantastical scenes with jarring, other-worldly juxtapositions and symbolism. Unlike many surrealists, however, Fini engages deeply with the corporeality of the human body in a way that often subverts gender norms. Fini’s female figures are typically dominant and stoic, while her male figures are eroticized. In other cases, the figures are highly androgynous and eroticized, complicating the way human sexuality is normally presented. Described by many to be particularly tall and commanding in physical appearance with very unusual cat-like eyes, in many ways she was more creaturely than human. Taking the artistic interest in the motif of an animal/human hybrid somewhat literally, she stood as an embodiment of feline transformation and metamorphosis, and came to accurately identify herself with the ancient figure of a Sphinx. Deadly in Greek tradition, whilst benevolent but ferocious in Egyptian stories, the appearance of the mythical creature is symbolic of Fini's love for artifice and nature combined. During her lifetime, Fini’s work was regularly well received and moderately successful. She enjoyed inclusion in the 1936 landmark MOMA exhibition Fantastic, Dada, Surrealism and a show at the Julien Levy gallery in New York. More recently, her art has enjoyed considerably more attention as she undergoes a critical and scholarly re-evaluation. She has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Museum of Sex, New York (2018); the Weinstein Gallery...
Oil, Panel
7b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper Ed. H.C. X Exemplaire B
Archival Paper, Lithograph
7a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches Ed. H.C. X Exemplaire B Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris,...
Lithograph, Archival Paper
12a
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on Arches Ed. H.C. X Exemplaire B Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris,...
Lithograph, Archival Paper
1
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Watercolor on Arches Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, in the full swing of th...
Watercolor
Portrait de Femme ( Self Portrait ? )
By Leonor Fini
Located in Miami, FL
This is a possible self portrait by the famed female surrealist artist. It is also strikingly similar in style with it's exaggerated eyes to her portrait of Jean Genet, ( Leonor F...
Canvas, Oil