Mafalda Awaits You Seated

A small statue of Mafalda is now part of the streets of Madrid. It is the third sculpture of Quino's iconic character in Spain. The first arrived in Oviedo in 2014, when the Argentine humorist won the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities; the second, located in Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona), has been accompanied by her friends Manolito and Susanita since 2022. And now Mafalda is a Madrilenian thanks to the donation from Penguin Random House to the Madrid City Council, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the creation of the famous comic strip.

Mafalda crossed the Atlantic, from Buenos Aires to Madrid, as if she were just another passenger. "She crossed it as if she were about to tell us something," says Marta Rivera de la Cruz, third deputy mayor of the capital. The little girl, who seems to come to life sitting on a bench, is "happy, though never satisfied," says Pilar Reyes, editorial director of Lumen.

This peculiar girl, who maintains her six-year-old appearance despite being sixty, is a little rebel. This was the title of the first book that collected Mafalda's strips outside Argentina. 'Mafalda, the rebel' was published in Italy in 1969, a few years before landing in Spain thanks to Esther Tusquets and the Lumen publishing house.

Since then, Mafalda remains a reference. Lola Martínez de Albornoz, editor of Lumen, states that "in the end, it is a character and situations with which we identify a lot." "Her vision helps us in some way to understand the world. And, in reality, she continues to talk about the same things: authoritarianism, inequalities, bureaucracy, injustices."

The work that has now arrived in Madrid to celebrate the birthday of the small but prestigious Mafalda is by sculptor Pablo Irrgang and is located at the Casa del Lector, in the Matadero cultural center, because "where would Mafalda want to be if not in a place full of letters," emphasizes Rivera de la Cruz. There she awaits to welcome children and adults, who have grown up reading her adventures, identifying with Mafalda, Felipe, Susanita, Manolito, Miguelito, Libertad, or Guille. Although, above all, identifying with Quino, who used his "good and bad parts" to inspire the friends of the little rebel, says Guille Lavado, nephew of the graphic humorist.