María Luisa de Mateo Venturini's painting is realist for the simple pleasure of recreating moments of reality, textures of reality, emotions of reality, an immersion in the colors of reality. Far from hyperrealism, it is close to an abstract realism in which reality is built from patches, from colors. Born in Mexico City, she studied History with a specialization in Art at UNAM, graduating with honors. She pursued graduate studies in Art History at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. In a much-enjoyed detour, she completed a master's degree in Economics at UNAM, also with honors, even though she always knew painting was her passion. With no patience for formal schooling, she studies, researches and learns from the great masters, Velázquez in particular, whom she copies and dissects. Perhaps because of her training as a historian, portraiture is her specialty and greatest joy. Even so, any exercise with a brush in hand is equally rewarding. Her paintings come in different formats, mainly oil on canvas, though she has also made prints and silkscreens. She has exhibited both in Mexico and abroad. The different themes in her paintings are expressions of those exhibitions.