presentation

The aim of this exhibition, organized by the Fundación María Zambrano and the Residencia de Estudiantes, in collaboration with the Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales and the Ministry of Culture, is to revive the memory of philosopher María Zambrano and to make it available to a wider public by means of reconstructing her intellectual biography.

The intellectual biography of María Zambrano is a connecting thread that weaves through the history of 20th century Spain. María’s father, Blas, was a grammar teacher in Segovia, and it was in his library that her friendship with Antonio Machado began and she was first immersed in the works of the authors of the Generation of ’98.

She met Zubiri, García Morente, and José Ortega y Gasset at the university and would always consider Ortega her mentor,  although she maintained her own ideas. Following her father’s example, María not only expressed at all times a critical view of her surroundings, but also consistently committed herself to improving the world around her on all fronts within her reach: teaching (at the Instituto Escuela, the Residencia de Señoritas and the Universidad Central in Madrid); publishing; maintaining her friendships with poets and artists of the Generation of ’27; becoming an active member of the FUE (Spanish University Federation) where she encouraged the dialogue with politicians and intellectuals such as Azaña and met Fernando de los Ríos; and her social activism through her participation in the Misiones Pedagógicas, (Educational Missions), etc. These continuing activities were closely connected to the development of her philosophical and poetic ideas and with the ethical and political stances that she would adopt during the long exile that would put her in contact with some of the most influential American and European intellectuals of the era.

The exhibition and the catalog that commemorate the 100th anniversary of Zambrano’s birth hope to offer a vision of her life and work that will long remain in our memory.