Bolandi was born in 1923 in
San José. Her father, Walter Bolandi, was a leading photographer and cinematographer and her mother, Marina Jiménez, was a pianist. She had drawing lessons from
Fausto Pacheco. Her mother became her companion after she returned from fifteen years studying in Colorado and in New York with
Ivan Olinsky and
Robert Brackman. Dinora eventually became a near recluse in Escazú, selling little, and using her mother, her dog, and the occasional stranger as models. ==Death and legacy==