The study of the memories, writings and works of two 20th-century Spanish painters, Maruja Mallo and Amalia Avia, the first of which was trained during the Spanish Republic and the second during the Civil War, together with the analysis of the historical, political and social context in which they lived, allows us to clarify the weight that certain institutions such as education or the family had in their profession and the practices that encouraged or restricted their evolution as artists.