What does it take to make a lasting mark in the art world? Vision, courage and, above all, a love of the unpredictable. Here, Ileana Sonnabend had all this.
Whenever I think of her, I imagine a woman with a keen eye, capable of seeing what others missed. She was not just a collector or an art dealer: she was a true pioneer, someone who believed in artists before the world was even aware of them.

WHO ILEANA SONNABEND WAS

Andy Warhol, ritratto di Ileana Sonnabend

Ileana Schapira was born in Bucharest in 1914, the daughter of a well-to-do family that destiny took far away. Hers, in fact, is a life of constant travel and encounters that will change the history of art.
She married Leo Castelli at a very young age and together they fled to New York during the Second World War. Here, in the heart of the American art scene, begins the journey that will transform her into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

What strikes me about Ileana is the way in which she was able to reinvent herself. After her divorce from Castelli, she married Michael Sonnabend and let nothing stop her: she opened galleries in Paris and New York and began to write a new page in the world art scene.

Ileana’s intuition when art was a risk

What did it mean to bet on artists like Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg or Andy Warhol in the 1960s? It meant going against the grain. Ileana did not choose established artists, but those who challenged conventions. And this is one of the things I admire most about her: the ability to see potential where others saw only eccentricity.

Think of Warhol. When many critics turned up their noses at his Campbell’s soup cans, Ileana saw in them a new language, capable of speaking to contemporary society. It was not simply an aesthetic question, but a cultural one: Ileana understood that art had to dialogue with the present, even when this meant challenging good taste.

Not only Pop Art: the link with Italy

If there is one aspect that particularly moves me, it is Ileana’s special relationship with Italy.
She did not just bring American art to Europe, but went the other way round, making space for Italian artists in the United States. Thanks to her, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Schifano, Jannis Kounellis and many others have become major players on the international scene.

I like to imagine Ileana walking through the streets of Rome or Venice, observing every detail with curious eyes full of admiration for Italian beauty. This love for Italy was not only professional, but personal. She had realised that our country was fertile ground for artistic experimentation and contributed to making it known to the world.

Performance and creative freedom

Another extraordinary aspect of Ileana’s work was her support for performance art. When I think of the performances of the 1970s, such as those of Vito Acconci or Gilbert & George, I have to smile: how many people would have bet on such radical forms of expression? Yet Ileana did.

I think of Acconci’s performance, Seedbed, in which the artist hid under the floor and vocalised his erotic fantasies. Provocative, yes, but also deeply revolutionary.
Ileana believed that art should shake, make people think and, why not, scandalise and perhaps this is why her galleries were so alive. They were not simply exhibition spaces, but places of confrontation and innovation.

If there is one thing Ileana Sonnabend’s story has taught me, it is that art is never static. It is not something you observe passively, but something that enters you, challenges you and changes you.
Thanks to her, today we can admire works that have marked the history of visual culture, but perhaps her greatest lesson is this: do not be afraid to take risks.

Whether you are an artist, a collector or simply an enthusiast, art is always a gamble and the boldest bets, as Ileana teaches us, are the ones that leave their mark.

So, the next time you stand in front of a work of art that you don’t immediately understand, think of Ileana. Maybe you are just looking at the future, and like her, you have to have the courage to believe in it.