Bela Silva was born in Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Bela Silva is an artist of the world and her personal and artistic journey reflects this. Her nomadic nature led her to swap Lisbon in the 1990s - where she studied simultaneously at the more academic Escola Nacional de Belas Artes and the more experimental Ar.co. - for Norwich University in England. 

 

Bela Silva's curious and energetic personality is favourable to finding and discovering new places. So a few years later, the artist left for the United States.  She first settled in Chicago, where she studied at the prestigious Art Institute, and later in New York, where she lived and worked as an illustrator for the New York Times. Her American experience was a determining factor in her training and the start of her artistic career.

 

Bela Silva's work is represented in several international collections, both private and institutional, including the art collection of the Villa Tamaris, La Seyne-sur-Mer, France (where she exhibited in 2022), where the institution acquired an important work for its collection Also noteworthy are exhibitions at the Ann Nathan Gallery, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, both in Chicago. In Portugal, at the Lisbon Tile Museum, the Anastácio Gonçalves Museum in Lisbon, the Ajuda Palace and the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation. Important exhibitions have also taken place in China, Japan. South Korea and France. Bela Silva has taken part in several collective tile exhibitions in Portugal.