BIO

María Cortés (Madrid), contemporary artist who composes symbolic landscapes where colour, energy, and spirituality merge into poetic atmospheres. Inspired by contemplation, travel, and the images that have always surrounded her, her work transforms memories and visions into dreamlike scenarios infused with serenity and vitality.

In her paintings, colour becomes an emotional language: glazes, layers, and contrasts express the vibration of inner states in constant transformation. Mountains, skies, and lakes emerge as spaces of exploration that evoke—rather than describe—the intimate experience of seeing and recognising oneself. Her works are already part of private collections in Brazil, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and the USA.

Belonging to the third generation of a family of antique dealers, her perspective as an artist is deeply shaped by her background in the art world. Co-founder of the magazine MAS ARTE and with extensive experience at international galleries such as Coll & Cortés and Colnaghi, as well as directing María Cortés Fine Art Consultancy, she has developed a refined visual sensitivity that now permeates each of her canvases.

 

 

  • ARTIST STATEMENT

    Painting is my way of suspending time, entering a space where stillness and vision converge. Each work emerges from an emotion, a journey, a memory, or an inner image that guides me. Through colour, I transform these sensations into atmospheres that resonate like reflections of the soul.

    For me, painting is also a way to explore the fine line between what keeps us bound to material existence and what connects us to our true essence. I believe that essence is nature —a source of energy, love and timeless presence. There is only a fragile thread that separates us from it, yet many in today’s society remain absorbed by the material. My practice seeks to make visible that thread of union, to invite a reconnection with what lies beyond appearances.

    Mountains, lakes and seas appear in my work alongside dreamlike skies, suggesting infinite horizons where energy and serenity coexist. Within these landscapes, the leopard emerges as a recurring guide —a symbol of intuition and strength, but also of the inner journey we each undertake.

    Rooted in my background as an Old Masters specialist, my painting unites a trained eye for balance and composition with a contemporary sensibility.