Emilio Prados

Born in the Andalusian city of Málaga in 1899, Prados was offered a place at Madrid's famous Residencia de estudiantes in 1914 and moved into its university section in 1918.

Emerging from the sanatorium in 1922, he resumed his academic training: taking courses at the universities of Freiburg and Berlin; visiting museums and art galleries across Germany; immersing himself in the artistic culture of Paris and meeting, amongst others, Pablo Picasso.

At the same time as he was working in literature and pursuing his own creative talents, Prados took an increasing interest in social affairs and politics, particularly the marginalization of the poorest sectors of society.

The climate of violence in Málaga after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 led him to return to Madrid, where he joined the Alianza de Intelectuales Antifascistas and began contributing enthusiastically to the intellectual side of the Republican cause.

Early work, 1925 - 1928: Prados's poetry highlights in particular the relationship between the natural world and the otherness of being, mixing avant-garde and surrealist elements with his own Arabic/Andalusian roots.