“The very essence of theatre – its sets, its acting – seems to flow naturally from her soul.”
— Jean Cocteau
Leonor Fini – In scena (On stage) is an exhibition dedicated to works on paper and preparatory studies for the theatre created by Leonor Fini (1907–1996) between 1948 and 1969. On view through 28 March 2026, the exhibition continues the gallery’s research into the work of the Italian-Argentine artist, focusing on a strand of her production developed consistently alongside her painting.
Between the mid-1940s and the late 1960s, Leonor Fini pursued an intense theatrical activity that led her to collaborate with some of Europe’s leading institutions, establishing herself as a set and costume designer within the post-war renewal of the stage. After her first experiences in Rome during the war, she returned to Paris, where she worked with George Balanchine on Le Palais de cristal at the Opéra de Paris and with Roland Petit on Les Demoiselles de la nuit. In these same years, she conceived Le Rêve de Leonor (1949), a one-act ballet set to music by Benjamin Britten and presented at London’s Royal Opera House. Conceived from a dream, the ballet translates into stage form a fantastical and visionary universe that runs deeply through Fini’s imagination.
Leonor Fini – In scena (On stage) brings together studies and sketches for a group of productions dating from 1949 to 1969, including Le Rêve de Leonor (1949), Le Mal Court (1956), La Mégère apprivoisée (1957), Le Concile d’Amour, and Le Balcon (1969). The drawings and watercolours on view reveal the process through which characters are defined, costumes articulated, and stage space constructed. In these works, the sheet of paper becomes an autonomous site of elaboration, where relationships between body and garment, presence and role are refined before their translation onto the stage.
