Pino della Selva was born as Giuseppe Giuffrida in Sicily. In 1931, he moved to Paris and called himself Pino della Selva from that moment at the latest. He was active as a painter, draughtsman, engraver and sculptor. At first, he worked mainly as a portraitist and painted portraits of literary figures and poets. He also tackled social themes in his paintings and drawings. As an art critic, he wrote for the Italian-language newspaper Parola del Popolo, which was published in Chicago. His later, allegorical works were initially influenced by Symbolism and Surrealism, and became increasingly abstract from the 1950s onwards.