Sofia Mitsola in Conversation with Alyce Mahon

Alyce Mahon is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and the Head of Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Surrealism and the Politics of Eros, 1938-1968 (Thames & Hudson, 2005), Eroticism & Art (Oxford University Press, 2007), The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde (Princeton University Press, 2020), and Dorothea Tanning: A Surrealist World (Yale, 2025) as well as the edited catalogue Dorothea Tanning (Reina Sofia/ Tate, 2018), and numerous essays on surrealist, avant-garde, and feminist art. She is also the inaugural co-editor of the International Journal of Surrealism [IJS], published by University of Minnesota Press and serves on the Board of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism [ISSS]. Mahon curated SADE: Freedom or Evil for the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in 2023, and Dorothea Tanning: Behind the Door, Another Invisible Door for the Museo Reina Sofia and the Tate Modern in 2018-2019. She frequently serves as curatorial advisor for surrealist shows – most recently for Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds (Tate St Ives & Tate Britain, 2025), and Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire 1930-1990 (Museum of Sex, New York, 2018- 2019). 

Sofia Mitsola, born in 1992 in Thessaloniki, Greece, lives and works in London. Her paintings investigate the female form. Mitsola received an MFA from Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in 2018, and holds a BA from the School of Visual and Applied Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Her work has been exhibited at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Vienna, Austria (2026); 1690 Art Collection Space, Shanghai, China (2025);  P21 Gallery, Seoul (2025);  Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens (2025); Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL (2024); Fondation Carmignac, Porquerolles Island (2024); Sixi Museum, Nanjing (2024);  Pilar Corrias Gallery, London (2024);  Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich (2023); CC Strombeek, Grimbergen (2023); The Harley Gallery, Portland Collection Museum, Worksop (2022);  Pilar Corrias, London (2021); Jerwood Space, London (2019). Mitsola was awarded the Tiffany & Co. x Outset Studiomakers Prize (2018) and the British Institution Student Award by the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018).