Fourth of fourteen children and sister of the famous sculptor Cristino Mallo, Maruja trained in Madrid. She was the first female student to be admitted to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Belonging to the Generation of ’27 together with Salvador Dalí, a very important figure for her both on an artistic and personal level, she founded with Rosa Chacel, María Zambrano and Carmen Conde a vital Spanish feminine avant-garde in the ‘20s called Las sinsombrero. All these artists transgressed to reform and lived a limitless life in the name of eccentricity. Her work, linked to surrealism, is initially composed of dreamlike visions and timeless objects, subjects that are replaced over time by landscapes and men at work showing her sympathy for the less well-off classes as well as her social commitment.
