DREAM, MYTH AND FANTASY: THE FIRST MAJOR EXHIBITION ON LEONOR FINI IN GERMANY

On October 23, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt will be presenting Germany’s first major retrospective on Leonor Fini (1907–1996), Leonor Fini Magically Surreal. Around 100 works, including paintings, drawings, photographs, costumes, masks, and books, offer comprehensive insight into the artist’s fascinating oeuvre. Shaped by the Renaissance, Symbolism, German Romanticism, and Magical Realism, she developed a unique pictorial language embracing dream, myth, fantasy, and stagelike presentations.

Leonor Fini ranks among the most fascinating and singular artistic personalities of the twentieth century. Born in Buenos Aires, raised in Trieste, she was an autodidact and always maintained her independence, in spite of her proximity to Surrealism. With her multifaceted and deeply original body of work, she left a lasting mark on the history of European art. This retrospective is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive tributes to her work ever presented on an international scale.

Tracing the full breadth of her creative journey, the exhibition conveys the extraordinary diversity of her oeuvre. She developed a unique pictorial language and style derived from the old masters, creating dreamlike scenes with priestesses, sphinxes, and hybrid figures that reverse the classic gender roles. She painted powerful representations of strong women and androgynous figures, often as new interpretations of historical models. Emancipation, gender fluidity, eros, occultism, death, and transformation pervade her works, as does her playful treatment of masks, costumes, and role models.

A central theme in the artist’s oeuvre is the study of her role as a woman and an artist. From the beginning, she presented herself confidently as a libertarian and a glamorous icon, deliberately blurring the boundaries between artistic creation and lived existence. The exhibition shows Fini’s long and fascinating art career with works from some seventy years of artistic activity.

Sebastian Baden, Director of the Schirn, said: “Already in 2020, within our exhibition ‘Fantastic Women’ on female artists of Surrealism, visitors could encounter Leonor Fini. With her multifaceted and deeply original body of work, she left a lasting mark on the history of European art. Since then we have pursued the wish to present Fini’s extraordinary oeuvre more comprehensively. I am delighted that we succeeded in showing one of the most ambitious and exhaustive tributes to her work ever presented on an international scale. Tracing the full breadth of her creative journey, the exhibition conveys the breadth of her oeuvre.”