Art has always played a huge part in the life of Ella Fontanals-Cisneros. Born in Cuba and raised in Venezuela, she began collecting works by Latin American artists in the 1970s. Since then, she has broadened her scope to include a range of modern and contemporary works, among them video, photography and site-specific installations.
Fontanals-Cisneros has served on the boards of several museums across America, and is honorary president of CIFO, the eponymous foundation she established in 2002. As well as being a passionate collector, she is also a writer, philanthropist and online content creator. Her English-language Instagram account (she has one in Spanish, too) features informative short-form videos exploring her approach to collecting, as well as posts presenting highlights from her collection.