The Phillips Collection presents the first museum retrospective of Cuban artist Zilia Sánchez (b. 1926, Havana). This long-overdue exhibition examines the artist’s prolific yet largely unknown career that spans almost 70 years, featuring more than 60 works including paintings, works on paper, shaped canvases, and sculptural pieces, alongside illustrations, design sketches, and ephemera. The exhibition traces Sánchez’s artistic journey from her early days in Cuba to her extended visits to Europe and residence in New York, and finally her move to Puerto Rico, where she now lives and works. Many of Sánchez’s works reference protagonists from ancient mythology (such as Trojans, Amazonians, and Antigone—all warriors and female heroines). Others have reoccurring motifs of lunar shapes, erotic topologies, and tattoo drawings that map physical and psychological spaces and add another dimension to her curvilinear geometry, rich with metaphorical meaning. The exhibition title, I Am an Island, serves as a personal metaphor for Sanchez’s experience as an islander—connected to and disconnected from both the mainland and mainstream art currents.
Zilia Sánchez: Soy
- Institution
- The Phillips Collection
- Grant Cycle
- Spring 2018
- Amount
- $100,000
- Type of Grant
- Exhibition Support

A visitor with Zilia Sánchez, Troyanas (Trojan
Women), polyptych, from the series Módulos
infinitos (Infinite Modules), 1967. Acrylic
on stretched canvas, 71 3/4 × 54 × 9 1/2 in.,
Collection of Laura Delaney Taft and John
Taft, promised gift to Walker Art Center,
Minneapolis

Zilia Sánchez, Lunar (Moon), 1985. Acrylic
on stretched canvas, 71 1/2 × 73 1/2 × 14 in.,
Collection of Ignacio J. López Beguiristain and
Laura M. Guerra, San Juan

Zilia Sánchez, Topología erótica (Erotic
Topology), 1960–71. Acrylic on stretched
canvas, 41 × 56 × 13 in., Collection of Jose R.
Landron, San Juan

Zilia Sánchez, Lunar negro con tatuaje (Black
Moon with Tattoo), 1975. Acrylic on stretched
canvas, 33 × 43 3/4 × 8 1/2 in., Colby College
Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, Museum
purchase from the Jere Abbott Acquisitions
Fund, 2016.228

Zilia Sánchez, Encuentrismo ofrenda o retorno
(The Encounter–offering or returning),
video of a performance, 2000, Berezdivin
Collection

Zilia Sánchez, Amazonas (Amazons), from the
series Topologías eróticas (Erotic Topologies),
1978. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 43 × 70 ×
11 in., Princeton University Art Museum, NJ,
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class
of 1921, Fund, 2014-53
“I take my camera everywhere. Having a few rolls of film to develop gives me a good reason to get up in the morning.”
Andy Warhol