20th century Spanish

Widely considered one of the most important Spanish surrealist painters, Mallo trained at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, alongside artists like Dalí. Despite her initial academicism, she soon took on board the teachings of the avant-garde and began to frequent the group of artists that had grown up around the prestigious intellectual and cultural institution Residencia de Estudiantes, especially Luis Buñuel (1900-1983) and Federico García Lorca (1898-1936). In 1925 she began a relationship with the poet Rafael Alberti (1902-1999) who was to have a profound influence on her artistic creation.

In 1927, around the time when she moved to Tenerife, her work became more transgressive. On returning to Madrid she started working on a suite of drawings which she called Estampas, driven by a search to uncover the unconsciousness. In 1928 she met the renowned philosopher Ortega y Gasset, who gave her career a major push by organising a show of her work at Revista de Occidente’s exhibition hall. Around the same time, when her relationship with Alberti was falling apart, she turned more towards Surrealism and her production became more prolific. In 1932, thanks to a scholarship for further education, she travelled to Paris, where she met Joan Miró (1893-1983) and André Bretón (1896-1966).

On returning to Spain she won a professorship in Drawing. During this time of upheaval, just prior to the Spanish Civil War, she declared her commitment to the Republican cause. When the war broke out, the persecution of her partner of the time, Alberto Fernández Mezquita, forced her into exile in Buenos Aires with the help of her friend the poet Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean consul in Madrid at the time. There she would develop her cosmic phase, in which she recreated South American nature.

After Franco’s death, she returned to Madrid and was adopted as the muse of the Movida, the irreverent 1980s art movement in Madrid. She was awarded the Gold Medal for Plastic Creation from the Region of Madrid in 1990.