Cecilia Markova was the daughter of poor Slovak parents. A milliner, she worked in a clothing store.

Her husband introduced her to a spiritualist circle. It was there that Cecilia Markova had her first experiences with powers and mysterious beings. In 1938, she created her first drawing, as if invisible forces were acting upon the pen and her hand.

After the sudden death of her husband, when she was only 29 and childless, drawing became a true passion. Becoming a means of communication with the deceased, drawing was the only activity that gave meaning to her life. She was certain she had access to other worlds. Angelic beings gave her a feeling of lightness, hope, and joy.

For Cecilia Markova, drawing was like a ritual through which she could enter an ethereal sphere where she was not separated from her beloved husband. The execution of her drawings is automatic and spontaneous, systematically preceded by personal meditation.

Her work evokes fantastical hybrid beings composed of plants, mollusks, and primitive amphibians that seem to dissolve into abstract forms. She wrote: "I am drawn to worlds where there are no true forms."