André Pieyre de Mandiargues was undoubtedly one of the most important.mes n in Leonor Fini’s life. They first.mes t in a café in Paris in January 1931 and, as a writer also connected with the Surrealists, he impressed her with his similar sense of freedom in life and thought. They soon became great friends, lovers (although Fini did not like this term), and artistic collaborators. André adored her, as she did him, and described her as "one of those rare, extraordinary women whose encounter seems essential, if not decisive to me”. Sadly however, and likely because of the intensity of their bond, their friendship ended in the 1950s when André married Bona Tibertelli. Despite this sudden break in physical ties, their emotional bond remained and each saved their letters in their entirety to one another, a correspondence which was published together as a book in 2010.

The present portrait depicts André after almost 10 years of friendship. During the 1930s, Fini took an increasing interest in portraiture, capturing partners, confidantes and patrons in a variety of elegant and theatrical compositions. This work, painted towards the end of this period, has a stylistic maturity that represents the crest in the arc of this development. Framed in her characteristic three-quarter length profile, the seated figure of André Pieyre de Mandiargues is extravagantly clothed in greens and golds and draped in leopard skin. Fini adored clothes, designing theatre and cinema cost.mes s, and paid great attention to her own and her invented wardrobes. In Portrait d’André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Fini employs softly textured brush strokes to render these luxurious fabrics, masterfully capturing their sheen of satin and soft fur in a posed display of opulence that recalls the Renaissance paintings that Fini so admired (see fig. 1).