Cleva Solís (1918–1997) was born in Cienfuegos, in the south of Cuba. Her family moved to Havana when she was four. As a teenager, she was bedridden for several years owing to an illness from which she later recovered. During this period, she devoted herself freely and intensely to reading – an endeavour that undoubtedly influenced her view of the world. She quickly developed a love of poetry and began writing her own. As a poet, she was a member of the Orígenes group. Following encouragement from Samuel Feijóo, her long-time friend, she began to draw and developed a body of entirely self-taught pictorial work.

Solís drew birds’ heads, human faces and fruit in an ornamental style, bordering on abstraction. Eyes are a characteristic feature of her work, appearing recurrently like points of reference in her complex compositions. In around 1970, after contributing to a collection for political prisoners, she was subjected to government repression that condemned her work to being “forgotten” for several decades. She was subjected to threats and intimidation that caused her lasting panic and terror, leading her to withdraw into a life of almost total concealment.