The painting of María Luisa de Mateo Venturini is realistic for the simple pleasure of recreating moments of reality, textures of reality, emotions of reality, and an immersion in the colors of reality. It is far removed from hyperrealism and much closer to an abstract realism in which reality is constructed through stains and colors. She was born in Mexico City. She studied History with a specialization in Art at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), graduating with Honorable Mention. She completed postgraduate studies in Art History at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. In a very enjoyable detour, she pursued a Master’s degree in Economics at UNAM, also graduating with Honorable Mention, even though she always knew that her true passion was painting. Without the patience for formal academic training in art, she studies, researches, and learns from the great masters—particularly Velázquez, whose works she copies and analyzes in depth. Possibly because of her background as a historian, her greatest specialty and pleasure is portraiture, although any exercise with a brush in hand is equally rewarding. Her paintings exist in different formats, mainly oil on canvas, although she has also produced prints and serigraphs. She has held exhibitions both in Mexico and abroad, and the various themes present in her paintings are expressions of these exhibitions.