A native of Kutaisi, Magalashvili began her studies at the School of the Caucasian Society of Fine Arts, moving to Moscow in 1915 to study at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where her instructors included Konstantin Korovin and Nikolay Kasatkin.

She returned to Georgia in 1917; in 1921 she began working at the library of the National Gallery in Tbilisi, where Dimitri Shevardnadze became a supporter.

[1] In Paris she moved in the same circles as Elene Akhvlediani, Lado Gudiashvili, and David Kakabadze, studying contemporary French art and developing her technique.

Returning once again to Georgia, she became a conservator at the National Gallery, leaving the post after Shevardnadze's execution in 1937.

She continued work as a painter, exhibiting with the Union of Artists for much of her career and gaining some notice for her portraits.