Image: Maruja Mallo, La verbena, 1927. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía has spotlighted Maruja Mallo's 'La verbena' in a social media post marking 15 August, presenting the painting as a concentrated image of popular celebration, colour and social critique, and as an artwork particularly apt for the holiday.
In the post, the museum says 'La verbena' brings together music, colour, fairground attractions and "insólitos" characters, while also carrying "mucha crítica social." It frames the painting as a festive image with a sharper edge, where the apparent liveliness of the scene is matched by satire and surrealism.
The museum's own collection record dates the oil on canvas to September 1927 and gives its dimensions as 119 x 165 cm. It entered the collection in 1988, transferred from the holdings of the Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo (MEAC), under inventory number AS01985. The painting is currently on display in Room 205.06.
According to that record, 'La verbena' belongs to a group of four oils devoted to Madrid's street festivals, which Mallo showed in 1928 in the solo exhibition arranged for her by José Ortega y Gasset in the galleries of the Revista de Occidente. The museum describes a composition of proliferating motifs and swirling lines, animated by a sharp critical sense that the painter translated into fine satire.
The social media note does not announce a new exhibition, display date or loan, and gives no installation information. It functions as a focused institutional spotlight on a single work in the Reina Sofía collection and on the way Mallo combined festive imagery with critical intent.
The post appeared on 15 August 2026 and was published in Spanish, opening with the line "Si hay una obra para un 15 de agosto, es esta." It singled out 'La verbena' as a fitting image for the holiday, closing with a reference to the artist's blend of satire and surrealism.
