Madrid’s Lázaro Galdiano Museum is hosting a major exhibition that shines a spotlight on Dora Maar, a pioneering figure in street photography often overlooked beyond her role as Pablo Picasso’s muse.
Dora Maar: Photography and Drawings, curated by María Millán and presented by Loewe and Loewe Foundation on the occasion of PHotoESPAÑA 2025, features a remarkable collection of Maar’s pre-war Spanish street photography from Barcelona in 1933, alongside her expressive drawings, revealing her creative genius as an independent artist.
For photography enthusiasts and street photography lovers, this exhibition presents a unique opportunity to explore Maar’s innovative approach. Her photographs document the gritty, everyday life of Barcelona’s streets during the tense pre–Civil War period, highlighting laborers, street vendors, and marginalized communities with empathy and artistic sensitivity.
The images capture traditional trades such as fishing and basket weaving while contrasting the harsh realities of impoverished families and street performers with more affluent figures along Las Ramblas.
Maar’s street photography is notable for its compelling social content combined with groundbreaking techniques such as solarisation, multiple exposures, and montage. These experimental methods give her images a surreal and haunting quality, blending documentary realism with artistic innovation. This positions Maar as a key early influencer in the evolution of modern street photography, albeit a fairly unknown one.
In addition to her photographs, the exhibition includes a recently discovered archive of drawings, sketched in pencil and Indian ink, offering an intimate glimpse into Maar’s imagination. Ranging from cubist abstractions to mythological imagery and natural landscapes, these drawings reflect her ongoing experimentation and creative depth.
The show also features vintage portraits of cultural figures like Jean Cocteau, Nadia Sibirskaïa, and Pablo Picasso, along with documentation of Picasso’s work on Guernica (1937).
Dora Maar: Photography and Drawings runs now through September 14, 2025 at Museo Lázaro Galdiano, making it a must-visit for anyone interested in photography, street photography, and 20th-century art history.
For those who can't make it to the exhibition, I highly recommend checking out Dora Maar's work. Her street portraits are authentic and real, and they can be a great inspiration for modern street photography.
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