Clara Ledesma was one of the first women to study and graduate from the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, considered one of the Dominican Republic’s most prestigious art schools. Shortly afterward, a successful solo exhibition provided Ledesma with the funds to travel, work, and display her paintings throughout Europe. There, Ledesma turned toward the artwork of contemporary greats Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, and Paul Klee, who encompassed surrealism, expressionism, and cubism in their art. Similarly, her oil paintings employed bright, primary hues and symbolism to create a fantastical image of her native country, often portraying peasant farmers and wildlife of the tropical countryside. Despite her thematic inclination toward the magical and otherworldliness, Ledesma also touched on social realism in her work, with her most noted series underlining the racial inequities of the time. Her artwork can be found in various private collections worldwide such as, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Miami, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico, the Contemporary Art of Madrid and the Gallery of Modern Art. Ledesma's work has also been featured in the Sarduy Gallery of New York, Art Gallery Nader, Signs of New York, and the Gallery of Modern Art in Santo Domingo.