After escaping from the Bergen-Belsen internment camp, Alina Szapocznikov attended the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1948, where she met César. Moving to Poland, then France, she was involved in the surrealist movement, nouveau réalisme, and pop art, which she took up, above all, for works that treat the representation of the female body. 1967 saw her first solo exhibition, organized by Pierre Restany at the Florence Houston Brown Gallery in Paris.