María de Echevarría’s paintings incorporate a host of influences, which she then distills and makes her own. Her unique take on abstraction prefers the landscape; yet de Echevarría’s landscapes have an emotional quality rarely seen in most abstract recreations of landscapes. The shapes she paints and her use of color take on a symbolic meaning. What results is as much a poem as a painting: a movement through different zones of energy, as the eye takes in the whole canvas.

Occasionally, María introduces human figures in her works. In Exodus #2 two female figures take center stage. Their silhouettes and a couple of bags show that mother and daughter are leaving their home, which has been destroyed by the ravages of war. The stark and faceless figures eloquently describe their plight, as the bold use of orange and violet intensifies the emotional content of the scene.