Sylvia Fein

Sylvia Fein made paint the way the Renaissance did — grinding pigment into egg yolk by hand — and used it to paint dreams for more than eighty years. She hung in the Whitney Annual beside Max Ernst and Jackson Pollock in the 1940s, disappeared from painting for decades, and returned in her eighties to finish one of the longest careers in American art. She was the last of the Wisconsin magic realists, and she lived to 104.

Because egg tempera is slow and Fein’s career was interrupted, her paintings are genuinely rare. If you own one, Revere Auctions would like to see it: send photographs through our free auction estimate form and our fine art specialists will respond with an honest valuation.

Who Was Sylvia Fein?

Fein was born in Milwaukee in 1919 and studied painting at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where the circle of friends now called the Wisconsin magic realists — John Wilde, Karl Priebe, Marshall Glasier, Dudley Huppler — formed around her. In 1943 she left for the village of Ajijic on Lake Chapala, Mexico, and painted there for three years. “I have loved Mexico,” she wrote, “and could cry on the return because I have the dust of Mexico on my heart.”

New York noticed. Her first solo exhibition, at Perls Galleries in 1946, was praised in the New Yorker, and her work hung in the Whitney Annual of 1946–47 alongside Max Ernst, Roberto Matta, and Jackson Pollock. Then, remarkably, she stepped away. Settled in Martinez, California, she took a graduate degree at Berkeley and spent decades studying how children learn to draw, publishing two respected books on the subject.

In her eighties she began painting again — luminous egg tempera panels of eyes, trees, and seas — and the art world came back to her. She painted nearly to the end of her life, dying in 2024 at the age of 104, the last living link to the original circle.

What Did Fein Paint?

Fein worked almost exclusively in egg tempera she prepared herself, on panel and board — the medium of the early Renaissance, luminous, exacting, and slow. The early paintings are surrealist scenes and portraits touched by her years in Mexico; the late work turns to single charged images, great eyes and spreading trees, painted with undiminished control.

The slowness of the medium and the long gap in her career mean her output is small. Paintings by Fein do not surface often, and when they do, the question is never whether someone will want them — it is who gets the chance to compete.

How Much Is My Sylvia Fein Painting Worth?

Several things determine what a work by Sylvia Fein brings at auction:

• Period — the 1940s surrealist paintings — the Mexico and Whitney-era work — and the late Eye and Tree panels are both sought after, on different terms
• Rarity — egg tempera is slow and her career had a decades-long gap; genuine scarcity supports her market
• Condition — tempera on panel is durable but unforgiving of damp and impact; original surfaces matter
• Provenance — works from her Wisconsin and Mexico years, or with exhibition history, carry their story in the price
• Documentation — Fein was studied and interviewed late in life; a work she discussed or exhibited is worth more than an undocumented one

The honest answer is that no two are alike, and the difference between an ordinary example and an exceptional one is a conversation with a specialist, not a chart. Send us photographs through our free auction estimate form — front, back, signature, and any labels — and we will tell you what you have.

The Market for Fein

Fein’s rediscovery began in her own lifetime — late exhibitions, new scholarship, and collectors astonished to find a 1943 surrealist still painting — and it has continued since her death, as attention on Gertrude Abercrombie and the Wisconsin circle spreads to its other members. Her scarcity does the rest: there are simply not many Feins to go around.

For a rare artist in a growing market, auction is the honest way to find the price. A painting offered privately sells for what one buyer will pay; a painting at auction sells for what the whole market decides. If you own a Fein, let the market tell you what it thinks.

How to Sell a Work by Fein

The strongest results for a Sylvia Fein painting come at auction, where national and international collectors bid against each other. Revere Auctions offers free, no-obligation auction estimates: send photos and dimensions and our specialists respond with a current market valuation and a recommendation on how to sell. Consigned works are professionally photographed, cataloged, and marketed through our fine art auctions to a worldwide bidder base, and we regularly arrange shipping for consignors across the country. If you need a formal written valuation for insurance or estate purposes, our appraisal and valuation services team can help; you can also read more about how selling at auction works.

Related: Wisconsin artists & the magic realists, our fine art department, appraisal services, free auction estimates.

Reviewed by the fine art specialists at Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sylvia Fein: Frequently Asked Questions

How much is a Sylvia Fein painting worth?

Her output is small and works surface rarely, which supports values across her career. The price depends on period, subject, size, and condition. Revere Auctions provides free auction estimates from photographs.

What medium did Sylvia Fein use?

Egg tempera she made herself, grinding pigment into egg yolk in the manner of the early Renaissance, usually on panel or board. The medium gives her paintings a luminous, matte precision that is easy to recognize in person.

How do I know if my Sylvia Fein is authentic?

Fein signed most finished paintings, and her career is well documented at both ends. Send photographs of the front, back, and signature with your free estimate request and our specialists will review it.

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