Her first exhibition was at the premises of the Revista de Occidente in Madrid, on loan from Ortega y Gasset. She left the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando for considering it too rigid and dared to go out without a hat at the Puerta del Sol, defying the good manners of the time.
We are talking about Maruja Mallo, an artist of the Generation of ’27 who played a leading role in the avant-garde of the 20th century with her feminine and liberating gaze. The exhibition “Maruja Mallo: Máscara y compás” (Maruja Mallo: Mask and Compass), which arrives at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid on October 8 and can be seen until March 16, 2026, is dedicated to her. Its visit is included with general admission to the museum.
More than 80 paintings, drawings, writings, and documents chronologically retrace the life and work of Maruja Mallo. Through the exhibition we can learn about her interest in popular art and magical realism up to Surrealism and her latest paintings with geometric and fantastic figures. In addition, her feminine vision is very present, which bets for the modern, active, free and professional woman.
The Madrid of Maruja Mallo
Born in Viveiro (Lugo), Maruja Mallo traveled to Madrid to study at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. There she befriended Salvador Dalí and, although she left the school because of its academic rigidity, she remained among the intellectual elite of the time. She shared a circle with Ortega y Gasset, Buñuel, Lorca and Miguel Hernández, among others, and even maintained a romantic relationship with the poet Rafael Alberti.
The artist wanted to reflect the Madrid that inspired her so much in her works. She was surprised by the collective atmosphere of the parties and celebrations, which included all people regardless of economic, gender or racial differences. In the exhibition, we can see paintings such as La verbena, painted in 1927, which stands out for its rhythm, color and liveliness.
Towards denunciation and the cosmos
The popular visions that Maruja Mallo painted in her first paintings and prints were transformed into social denunciations and increasingly fantastic representations. For example, in her series Cloacas y campanarios, the human figure is replaced by skeletons showing inequality and social deterioration.
During the Civil War, he depicted peasant and fisherwomen as goddesses of classical art to pay homage to their work. He also painted Naturalezas vivas, a series on marine organisms such as shells, algae or flowers that allude to the maternal womb as the origin of life.
Empowered women
Maruja Mallo defended a free and modern view of women. In contrast to the reified and submissive image that prevailed, she portrayed women who were masters of themselves and in action. Like other artists of the Generation of ’27, Maruja Mallo took off her hat at the Puerta del Sol, a gesture that was previously considered provocative and scandalous. Thus, the group known as “Las Sinsombrero” was created, which also included María Zambrano, Concha Méndez and Margarita Manso.
Maruja Mallo went into exile in Argentina and later to the United States, where she continued her artistic career. Her works are internationally recognized and can be seen in museums in Paris, Chicago, Argentina and Montevideo.
With the exhibition “Maruja Mallo: Máscara y compás”, the painter returns to Madrid to remind us of her feminine gaze in modern art, her denunciation of inequality and her fantastic avant-garde universes.