Galerie Lelong
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Art fairs
  • News
  • Events
  • Gallery
  • Paris
Menu
Estate of Zilia Sánchez
1926-2024

Estate of Zilia Sánchez 1926-2024

  • Biography
  • Exhibitions
  • Press
  • Publications
  • Contact Form
  • In a remarkable career spanning over seven decades, Zilia Sánchez explored the juxtapositions between the feminine and the masculine, the...
    Installation view of Concepto I, 2019 in Coral Gables, Florida, 2023.

    In a remarkable career spanning over seven decades, Zilia Sánchez explored the juxtapositions between the feminine and the masculine, the painterly and the sculptural, the personal and the universal, the exterior body and the interior self. Sánchez’s work is characterized by her distinctive approach to formal abstraction through the use of undulating silhouettes, a muted color palette, and a unique, sensual vocabulary. She is primarily recognized for her shaped canvases, first created in Havana in the 1950s and further developed while living in Havana, New York City, and Madrid.  Sánchez’s signature style consisted of stretching canvas over hand-molded wooden armatures and painting them with acrylic. The reduced color palettes in her compositions, as well as the serial processes she employed, connect her to Minimalism, though the sensuality and embrace of the curve in her work bear witness to the distinctive language Sánchez developed.

  • "Art can be expressed through a technique or a spirit. Technique can be taught, but an inner spirit cannot."
    —Zilia Sánchez
  • Sánchez's work had rarely been seen outside of Puerto Rico before her 2013 survey at Artists Space, New York, and...
    Installation view, Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2019. Photo: Lee Stalsworth.

    Sánchez's work had rarely been seen outside of Puerto Rico before her 2013 survey at Artists Space, New York, and 2014 solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co., New York. In 2017, her work was included in the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, VIVA ARTE VIVA, curated by Christine Macel, and in 2024 was included in the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa. In 2019, Soy Isla, a major solo exhibition of Sánchez's work, was presented at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and toured to Museo de Arte Ponce, San Juan, Puerto Rico and El Museo del Barrio, New York. In 2024, Sánchez was the subject of the solo exhibition Topologías / Topologies at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Sánchez's work is featured in public collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Pérez Art Muesum, Miami; Colby College Museum of Art, Maine; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; and Walker Art Center, Minnesota.

    Sánchez was born in 1926 in Havana, Cuba and permanently settled in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the early 1970s, where she in died in 2024.

    Download CV
    • Zilia Sánchez, Sin título, 2023
      Zilia Sánchez, Sin título, 2023
    • Zilia Sánchez, Sin título, 2023, Conceived 2001-02
      Zilia Sánchez, Sin título, 2023, Conceived 2001-02
    • Sin título, c. 1995 / 2020

      Sin título, c. 1995 / 2020

    • Concepto I, 2019

      Concepto I, 2019

    • Lunar con tatuaje, c. 1968/96

      Lunar con tatuaje, c. 1968/96

    • Eros, 1976/1998

      Eros, 1976/1998

    • Sin titulo, 1971

      Sin titulo, 1971

    • Sucesión [Succession], 1966

      Sucesión [Succession], 1966

    • Gravitacion #16 [Gravitation #16], 1963

      Gravitacion #16 [Gravitation #16], 1963

  • Exhibitions
    • La Biennale di Venezia: Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere

      La Biennale di Venezia: Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere

      Venice, Italy 20 Apr - 24 Nov 2024 Museum & Public Exhibitions
      View More
    • Zilia Sánchez: Topologías / Topologies

      Zilia Sánchez: Topologías / Topologies

      The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami), Florida 20 Apr - 13 Oct 2024 Museum & Public Exhibitions
      View More
    • Zilia Sánchez

      Zilia Sánchez

      Eros 21 Nov 2019 - 17 Jan 2020 Galerie Lelong Exhibitions
      View More
    • Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island)

      Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island)

      El Museo del Barrio, New York City 20 Nov 2019 - 22 Mar 2020 Museum & Public Exhibitions
      View More
    • Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island)

      Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island)

      The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC 16 Feb - 19 May 2019 Museum & Public Exhibitions
      View More
    • Diálogos constructivistas en la vanguardia cubana

      Diálogos constructivistas en la vanguardia cubana

      28 Apr - 25 Jun 2016 Galerie Lelong Exhibitions
      View More
    • Zilia Sánchez: Heróicas Eróticas en Nueva York

      Zilia Sánchez: Heróicas Eróticas en Nueva York

      3 May - 21 Jun 2014 Galerie Lelong Exhibitions
      View More
  • Press

    • The New York Times, An Artist Who Transforms Paintings Into Cosmic Sculptures
      Press

      The New York Times

      An Artist Who Transforms Paintings Into Cosmic Sculptures November 29, 2019
    • Art in America, Erotic Abstraction
      Press

      Art in America

      Erotic Abstraction May 1, 2019
    • Washington Post, At the Phillips Collection, a sexy and sublime artist gets her due
      Press

      Washington Post

      At the Phillips Collection, a sexy and sublime artist gets her due February 21, 2019
    • Artforum, Reviews: Zilia Sánchez, Galerie Lelong & Co.
      Press

      Artforum

      Reviews: Zilia Sánchez, Galerie Lelong & Co. September 1, 2014
  • Publications

    • Diálogos constructivistas en la vanguardia cubana: Amelia Peláez, Loló Soldevilla & Zilia Sánchez, Ingrid W. Elliott
      Publications

      Diálogos constructivistas en la vanguardia cubana: Amelia Peláez, Loló Soldevilla & Zilia Sánchez

      Ingrid W. Elliott
      Published by Galerie Lelong ISBN: 9780692711835
    • Heróicas Eróticas en Nueva York, Irene V. Small, Marimar Benitez
      Publications

      Heróicas Eróticas en Nueva York

      Irene V. Small, Marimar Benitez
      Published by Actar ISBN: 9781940291390
    • Soy Isla (I Am an Island), Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mercedes Cortázar, Ingrid W. Elliott, and Abigail McEwen
      Publications

      Soy Isla (I Am an Island)

      Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mercedes Cortázar, Ingrid W. Elliott, and Abigail McEwen
      Product Details ISBN: 9780300233902 ISBN-10: 0300233906 Publisher: Yale University Press Publication Date: February 19th, 2019 Pages: 200 Language: English
  • Contact Form

    Send me more information on Estate of Zilia Sánchez

    Please fill in the fields marked with an asterisk
    Receive newsletters *
    Send inquiry

    * denotes required fields

    In order to respond to your enquiry, we will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.

Galerie Lelong, New York

528 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

T +1 212 315 0470

F +1 212 262 0624

art@galerielelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

13, rue de Téhéran

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33

info@galerie-lelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

38, avenue Matignon

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33
info@galerie-lelong.com

Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
WeChat, opens in a new tab.
Artsy, opens in a new tab.
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 Galerie Lelong
Site by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences