Cynthia Segato was born in Rome in 1958. She studied at a senior high school specializing in art, before graduating in Astronomy and attending the Free School of the Nude at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Besides painting, she deepened her knowledge of graphic art by attending several printmaking workshops, including those at the National Chalcography.

At a very young age, she began to exhibit in group shows in various venues in Italy. The central themes in her work are expressed through an imaginary, fairy-tale figurative language and a symbolism pertaining to the concepts of time and space. It is a space that is ever-changing, crowded with clocks, sundials, hourglasses, masks, and archetypal figures. Her knowledge of mathematics and astronomy feeds into her paintings, in which cosmic objects, constellations, Moebius strips, fantastic geometries and non-Euclidean spaces abound. These are informed by her research into Platonic solids, the creation of matter, and stardust. Her interest in children’s illustration resulted in a series of works inspired by nursery rhymes old and new, the latter written by Segato herself. In 1989 she held her first solo show, Meccaniche celesti (Celestial Mechanics). In the 1990s, she participated in numerous artistic and cultural ventures and exhibited the cycle Il tesoro di Eolo (Aeolus’ Treasure) first in Lipari and later in the Fiat Arte venue in Rome. Her work Aprite le porte alla vita (Open the Doors to Life) was shown at an event in the presence of Pope John Paul II, and the cycle Giochi d’acqua (Water Games) at Villa Gregoriana in Tivoli.

In the early 2000s, she began working with the art gallery Edarcom Europe, which in recent years has curated and held major solo exhibitions of her work: Bugie cosmiche (Cosmic Lies), presented by Gabriele Simongini in 2002, Frammenti d’infinito – Attraversando lo spazio-tempo leopardiano (Fragments of Infinity – Crossing Leopardi’s Space-Time) presented by Renato Civello in 2004, Microcosmi Quotidiani (Daily Microcosms) in 2008, Uva d’alberi (Tree Grapes) in 2010, Siparietti cosmicomici (Cosmicomical Entr’actes) in 2012 and Squilibri Planetari (Planetary Imbalances) in 2013. She has been invited to exhibit her work at important commemorative and cultural and sports events. She created the work Cosmic Rings for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Un gioco da favola per tutti (A Fairytale Game for All) for the 2009 Italian Bowls Championships and Teatrino di Anita: 1861-2011 – Cucire e ricucire l’Italia (Anita’s Little Theatre: 1861-2011 – Sewing and Mending Italy) for the 150th Anniversary of the Unity of Italy in 2011. Over the years she has created over twenty lithographs and etchings, exclusively for editions published by the Edarcom Europa gallery. These are inspired by major themes in Giacomo Leopardi’s poetry and by the children’s books Pinocchio and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Segato lives and works in Rome.