Alicia Leal was born in 1957 and lives in Havana with her husband, painter Juan Moreira. She graduated from the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts and quickly joined the ranks of young artists who came to prominence in the 1980's. She started painting seriously about 1985 when her daughter was born.
Her flat perspective and detailed scenes have a freshness, whimsy and exuberance reminiscent of folk art. A darker tone emerges in her themes drawn from myth and religion and relationships between men and women.
She is one of Cuba’s best-known artists and her work has been exhibited world-wide in group and one-woman shows.
In 2001 she took part in a major exhibit at the University of Albany, “Passionately Cuban: Nine Artists from Havana.”