As in all of MariaËs works, where every shape unlocks a myriad of meanings, Sem eco and Saudade also allude to parts of the human body in search of unattainable completion. The elongated, intertwined and round shapes in these works are reminiscent of intestines and other bodily organs.

In the sculpture, Não te esqueças nunca que eu venho dos trópicos, of 1942, feminine arms·the imprint of gender appearing barely through a pair of protrusions that mimic breasts·also appear to be reaching out emptily. Five elongated shapes project from its bosom, recalling flames of fire. They could be references to the artistËs life, who gave birth to five girls, two of which were born dead.

In a universe of works that comment on the impossibility of a complete fusion between two beings, Impossível [Impossible] is one of the most representative ones. This work, in its two versions·one with arms, the other without·,sets two beings in contrast with each other. One is male, the other female and their contact is barred by forms reminiscent of pointed tentacles, nails or thorns which jut out of their heads. The figures are bizarre, unclassifiable but the meaning of the scene is unequivocal: it is an appalling comment on the impossibility of a union.

In the evolution of Maria MartinsËs work, animals such as spiders and, in particular, cobras, depart from the universe of the Amazon legends to penetrate the symbolic world of desire. The cobra, in works such as La femme a perdue son ombre [The woman has lost her shadow] of 1946, and However, of 1944, becomes a recurring symbol in her sculpture, charged with multiple meanings, such as wisdom, freedom, sexuality and the link with reality.

La femme, shows the elongated body of a woman. Two snakes emerge from her head. It is the image of a woman whose freedom went beyond the limits. The shadow that links her to the ground disappears and her head is crowned by the images of the two snakes, probable allusions to her lustful thoughts.

However shows a cobra, the snake of desire, choking the body of a woman, wrapping itself around her and strangling her. In its monumental version from 1947, two exclamation points are added to the title, However !!, and the cobra seizes the legs of the woman dragging them to the ground, while a pair of wings spring from her head. This piece sets in contrast two opposed forces: the liberation of the mind and the imagination symbolized by the wings, and worldly life, which limits and restricts it, nailing it down to the ground.

The small piece Aranha [Spider], of 1946, follows the same line of image appropriation, where animals embody specters of human desire. With legs intertwined and projected outwards, Aranha exhibits forms reminiscent of human limbs. It also mirrors the cannibal nature associated with these insects, whose females devour the males after copulation.

With the passage of time, and particularly from 1950 on, Maria MartinsËs work appears to head toward abstraction. This coincides with her return to Brazil and with constructive influences in the country. In spite of this, and in an apparent negotiation of opposites, Maria continues to manipulate a heavy dose of narrative and symbolism, which transforms each one of her works into myths that comment on human history.

The work A Soma dos nossos dias [The sum of our days] of 1954“55, is an example of this phase in which sculpture becomes the totem of a mysterious ritual about time and femininity. This work shows an enormous skeleton which ends in a tiny "head" in the shape of a flower bud or a vulva. Here, in the between contrast the relentless thickness of the skeleton below and the delicately layered structure of the form above, Maria weaves a poetic commentary on female sexuality, the creation of life and the passage of time.