Margherita Leoni was born in Bergamo in 1974. In 1997, she graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. That same year, she spent six months in the Reserva Biológica de Quebrangulo, where she began transposing various species of Brazil’s spontaneous forests onto her watercolor-painted papers.
From this experience, her work dedicated to spontaneous forests was born, with a particular focus on the main biomes of the Amazon, the Tropical Rainforest, and the Cerrado. As a botanical painter, she has collaborated with the Department of Botany at IB-UNESP in Botucatu and the Department of Biological Sciences at ESALQ/USP in Piracicaba, São Paulo. Since 2000, she has exhibited in public spaces and international art galleries.