The Life and Art of Maruja Mallo
Maruja Mallo was a Spanish surrealist painter born in Viveiro, Spain. As a member of the Generation of 1927 within the Spanish avant-garde movement, she studied at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. Her early work often featured themes of urban entertainments, sports, and machinery, utilizing bright colors and complex overlapping arrangements. During the 1920s, her paintings explored subjects such as bullfighters, women from Madrid, and towns full of sun. In the 1930s, her artistic direction shifted toward surrealism, incorporating geometric visual language and themes ranging from fruits to agricultural structures.
Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Mallo fled to Portugal and later moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. During her time in exile, she lived between Uruguay and Buenos Aires, and also traveled to Mexico, Chile, and New York. Her work during this period included series such as Las Máscaras, inspired by the syncretic cults of the Americas. In 1962, she returned to Spain after twenty-five years of exile. Mallo passed away in Madrid at the age of 93.
Artistic Works and Recognition
Mallo's diverse body of work includes various series and individual pieces, such as:
- La Verbena (1927)
- Antro de Fosiles (1930)
- Tierra y excrementos (1932)
- Sorpresa en el trigo (1936)
- Máscaras (1942)
- Acróbatas (1981)
Her paintings can be found at the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia in Spain. Throughout her life, she received several honors, including the Medal of Gold for honor in the Fine Arts in 1982 and the Galician Medal in 1991.
