Born on 24 September 1970 in Rzeszow, she graduated from the local State High School of Visual Arts in 1990. In 1990-1995 she trained in the Painting Department of the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts under Prof. Jan Szancenbach, where in 1995 she got a degree with honours in painting, and a degree in drawing, which she had studied under Prof. Sławomir Karpowicz. In 1996 she received a Krakow City Grant for the Arts, and the 2nd prize of the Youngest Krakow Artists’ Festival in Myślenice. In 1997 she was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture and Art. Magdalena Nałęcz won the 1st prize at the Biennial of Small Painting Forms in Toruń in 2003, and a year later she received an honorary mention at the exhibition Small Form 2004 at Galeria ZPAP in Krakow.