Meet Aelita Andre, the Australian child artist who began painting as a toddler and had her first solo exhibition at just 2

Aelita Andre was only a toddler when she began painting. Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 2007, Andre’s official biography says she first began painting at nine months old.

By the age of two, she had held her first solo exhibition at BSG Gallery in Melbourne, according to her official website.

Her website records that she completed a collection of acrylic-on-canvas paintings for a solo show at 20 months old. It lists “Soul Catcher” as her first exhibition at BSG in 2008, followed by the self-titled solo exhibition “Aelita” at the same gallery in 2009.

Who is Aelita Andre?

Aelita Andre is an Australian-born abstract painter whose work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, installations, music and what her website describes as “soundpaintings.” Her biography describes her painting style as “Magical Abstraction.”

Her website says Andre began painting at nine months old, using acrylic on canvas and paper. Her early work subsequently became part of exhibitions while she was still a toddler.

The story of how her interest in painting was first noticed was when her father, Michael Andre, had been preparing to paint on a canvas when the infant Aelita crawled onto it, squeezed paint tubes and spread paint across the canvas.

Her parents later showed her paintings to a Melbourne gallery. The curator was impressed by the work and wanted to exhibit it without initially knowing that the artist was a toddler.

Aelita Andre’s first exhibition at 2

Andre’s official website identifies her first solo exhibition as “Aelita” at BSG Gallery in Melbourne when she was two years old. The exhibition took place in 2009.

She completed a full collection of acrylic-on-canvas paintings for a solo show at 20 months old and that “Soul Catcher” was her first exhibition at BSG in 2008. The following year, it lists the self-titled “Aelita” as her first solo exhibition.

Her official milestone also identifies “Aelita” at BSG Gallery as her first solo exhibition at age two in 2009. It records her first international solo exhibition and live painting event at Hollywood Plaza Gallery in Hong Kong later that year.

From a toddler painter to international exhibitions

Andre’s official records several exhibitions and milestones following her early shows.

In 2011, when she was four, she held her first solo exhibition in the United States, “Prodigy Of Colour,” at Agora Gallery in New York. Her official chronology says all the paintings sold in less than one week.

In 2012, she held her third solo exhibition, “Secret Universe,” at Agora Gallery in New York. The chronology also records her first solo photography exhibition, “Galaxy of Love,” at Anita Traverso Gallery in Melbourne that year.

Her official biography lists solo exhibitions in New York, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Australia and Korea.

Aelita Andre’s solo museum exhibition at 9

At nine years old, she exhibited at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts Museum in St Petersburg, Russia. Her official chronology describes her as the youngest artist ever to stage a solo museum show in the history of art.

Her official milestone document identifies the exhibition as “Music of The Infinite” and dates it to September and October 2016. It says the exhibition was extended by two weeks and that a book of the same name was published by the Russian Academy of Fine Arts Press.

A talent that began before she could speak

Andre said in her website, "I’ve been painting since before I could really speak, so for me, art has never been separate from life - it’s how I think, feel, and make sense of everything."

She added, "When I paint, sculpt, or work digitally, it feels like I’m translating something from the space between memory, dreams, and myth - places I can only reach through colour, texture, movement, and sound."