Biography

Born in Kajaani, Finland, Totte Mannes studied fine arts in Stockholm and Helsinki. She lived in Latin America and Asia before settling in Madrid, Spain in 1969, and has lived there ever since.

Totte started to paint in 1972 and held her first exhibition in 1975. She has since exhibited work in numerous solo and group shows worldwide. In 1986, Spanish art students voted her as the best artist of the thousands exhibiting at the ARCO Art Fair in Madrid.

In addition, Totte has written several books, including two books about her time in Latin America, Tummien laulujen maa ('Land of Dark Song') 1967 and Pääkallotanssi Meksikossa ('Mexican Dance of Death') 1968, one about contemporary artists in Spain, Taiteilijaihminen ('A Human Being as Artist') 1974, and one about her own creative process, Ars gratia artis 1982. She has been a subject of TV documentaries and interviews in Spain, Finland and Argentina. She wrote the script for the Spanish television documentary Los Cincos about five Spanish artists in 1983.

She participated in the Ritmo y Norma ('Rhythm and Norm') group 1994-99. She represented painting in this cross-disciplinary group of artists. The other members included the sculptor Carlos Evangelista. Ritmo y Norma's Fourth string quartet (called 'Quartotte') was dedicated to Totte.

The President of Finland awarded Totte Mannes the Knight Cross of the Finnish Lion (Suomen Leijonan ritariristi) in 1985 for her services to art.