Born in West Sussex in 1927, Synger displayed an aptitude for drawing from a young age. After being expelled from two local schools she was sent to France by her parents to attend a small all-girls boarding school. The outbreak of World War II brought her studies to an abrupt standstill and she subsequently spent the next 14 years living in Monte Verità, the progressive artist community located on a beautiful hillside near Ascona, Switzerland.

It was here that Synger met Herman Hesse and Hans Arp and became strongly influenced by Dada and German Expressionism. Arp and Hesse became Synger’s close friends and benefactors, supporting her as she slowly made her way back to the UK.

Synger offers very little information about her time spent travelling back from Monte Verità. There are rumours that she posed for Picasso (Lying Female Nude, 1964), was a close friend of Françoise Sagan (inspiring the novel Aimez-vous Brahms?), killed one of Peggy Guggenheim’s dogs, stole Max Ernst’s car and drove to Naples with Louise Bourgeois...the list goes on. Synger seems content keeping these stories to herself, a knowing smile hinting that at least some may be true.

Arriving back in the UK in the early eighties, Synger enrolled in secretarial college and eventually joined a small law firm in Midhurst, West Sussex. Remnants of her earlier life are completely absent from her modest cottage on the edge of the South Downs. Tristesse, her dog, may be the one clue hinting at her compelling past.