The Museo Reina Sofía presents a major retrospective of Maruja Mallo, a key figure of the Spanish avant-garde, tracing her evolution from early magical realism and surrealism to the geometric and fantastical compositions of her later works.
Following the structure of her own pictorial series, the exhibition is organized chronologically, tracing Mallo's creative journey over six decades.
The settings that inhabit her paintings evolve from the working-class neighborhoods of Madrid, where the artist observes the vitality of the streets and everyday life, to the outskirts, where the landscape becomes a symbol and a metaphor.
In this transition, Mallo’s perspective expands: it moves from human geography to a poetic cosmography, where science, art, and mythology intertwine. Nature becomes a system of correspondences, a space where humans and the cosmos engage in dialogue.
THIS DIALOGUE BETWEEN LIFE AND ART IS ALSO EVIDENT IN THE PERFORMATIVE PORTRAITS AND SELF-PORTRAITS FEATURED IN THE EXHIBITION. IN THEM, THE ARTIST DEPICTS HERSELF AS A MASK, AS A SYMBOL, AS A THEATRICAL CHARACTER WITHIN HER OWN UNIVERSE.
The exhibition also highlights her interest in theater and set design, a little-known facet that is materialized in the reproduction of the model for an opera-ballet conceived by Mallo, never performed due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This aborted project resonates here as a metaphor for the historical interruptions that shaped her generation.
The exhibition journey allows us to see how Mallo merges the popular energy of her early years with an intellectual and spiritual quest in her maturity.
Her compositions navigate between the rational and the dreamlike, between geometric order and visionary fantasy, creating a space where the human body, everyday objects, and natural forms coexist within the same symbolic constellation.
IN THE ARTIST'S OWN WORDS, IT IS ABOUT “MOVING FROM GEOGRAPHY TO COSMOGRAPHY,” A PHRASE THAT SUMMARIZES HER DESIRE TO TRANSCEND THE MATERIAL AND DELVE INTO THE UNIVERSAL.
The curation by Patricia Molins offers a contemporary perspective on Maruja Mallo: not only as a historical figure of the Generation of ’27, but also as a precursor of a modern and feminist sensibility.
At a time when art historiography is broadening its focus to include previously silenced voices, Máscara y compás stands as an exercise in restitution and, above all, a celebration of an artist who was able to combine formal rigor, imagination, and thought.