Ana María Gómez González, known as Maruja Mallo, was a multifaceted artist from Galicia who lived a long life, being proof of this its varied and extensive production. Discover her universe thanks to the exhibition dedicated to the artist at the Reina Sofía Museum of Madrid.
She entered the artistic landscape of Madrid early, scenery of meaningful gatherings and meetings within the cultural field. The circles she used to frequent led her to strike up a friendship with people such as Concha Méndez, Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca –among others– and to earn the admiration of leading figures like José Ortega y Gasset, Ramón Gómez de la Serna or Joaquín Torres García, taking place a mutual influence in each case.
Since the late 20’s she started to exhibit her artwork in galleries and shows, contributing to creating a huge presence at the artistic overview at that time. She was very versatile, she experimented with different styles that allowed her to express her ideas. At first, she captures modernity and her avangarde taste in a first stage where we can find a fixation with sport –a topic that was recurring in the new art (Arte Nuevo)–, at the same time that she depicts popular scenes, because she considered both subjects to be non-exclusive. This symbiosis between traditional and avant-garde aspects won’t be an exception that characterized the artist, but a shared feature within her generation.
During her career we observe, as it was mentioned, a very varied production, so trying to classify the artist in just one movement or style would be mistaken and against the dynamic nature of Mallo.
She developed darker paintings on her series Cloacas y Campanarios (sewers and bell towers), she was interested in geometry and mathematics in Arquitecturas (architectures), she reflected her social concerns in Religión del Trabajo (works’s religion) and even showed an eagerness to classification in a scientific manner, while showing interest in the dynamism of life and in universalism, inspired by her stay in South America in Naturalezas Vivas (living nature), Retratos Bidimensionales (two-dimensional portraits) and in Máscaras (masks) –a topic that she finally will adapt to the cosmic scene in Moradores del Vacío (inhabitants of void) and in Viajeros del Éter (ether travellers)–.
Moreover, she was not just an artists. She also was a lecturer, teacher, art theorist and a missionary within the Misiones Pedagógicas (pedagogical missions), nonetheless these sides of her may be more unknown because their lesser impact on historiography.
After the exile on the occasion of the Civil War, as it happened to the vast majority of the exiled artists, her figure fades into oblivion. However, there were attempts of reclaiming the artist. The first one who tried was herself, she promoted her reintegration in the artistic overview and had an of note artistic awareness, leaving documentary proof of her activity. And, on the other hand, its stands out the important work of her relatives, artists, critics, collectors, journalists and researchers such as Emilio Gómez González, Juan Manuel and Antonio Bonet, Lía Elena Elizalde o Estrella de Diego, among others.
This 2025, after some attempts of making a big retrospective of the artist in order to contemplate her work in a comprehensive way, the Reina Sofía Museum made her wish expressed to the painter Juan Martínez de la Colina in 1994 come true: having a reasoned catalogue –presented in 2021 featuring the Azcona Foundation– and a huge retrospective in this museum.
If you want to learn more about the artist guided by an expert, in Voilàrt we offer you a visit through the Máscara y Compás exhibition every wednesday with Ana Belén Feijoo, an art historian that also did her thesis on Maruja Mallo. ¡You can not miss it!