Female Portrait No. 45

Leonor Fini (30 August 1907 – 18 January 1996) was an Argentine-Italian surrealist painter, designer, illustrator, and author, known for her depictions of powerful and erotic women.

Fini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Malvina Braun Dubich (born in Trieste, with German, Slavic and Venetian ancestry) and Herminio Fini (with ancestry from Benevento, Italy). Herminio was a handsome and very wealthy man, but also tyrannical with extreme religious views. Within 18 months of Leonor's birth, Malvina fled back to Trieste with the child. Leonor was raised there and was expelled from various schools for being rebellious.

As a Catholic, Herminio refused to give Malvina a divorce, which was only granted to her in 1919 through an Italian court. Custody battles often forced Fini and her mother to take sudden flight and wear disguises. In her early teens, an eye disease forced Fini to wear bandages on both eyes. After recovering, she decided to become an artist.

She moved to Milan at the age of 17 and a gallery in Trieste exhibited one of her paintings that year.