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ited widely and traveled frequently, becom-
ing one of the best-known Spanish painters
of the 20th century. He did not, however,
follow the expatriate path of his contempo-
raries P ABLO P ICASSO and S ALVADOR D ALÍ ,
who lived more or less permanently abroad.
Although away from Spain during most of
the S PANISH CIVIL WAR and World War II,
Miró returned regularly in later years to a
village near Tarragona where he had first
spent time in his youth. Active throughout
an extended old age, he became one of the
most recognizable of “modern artists,” par-
ticularly in the United States, where he had
been credited with both introducing abstract
expressionism and leading the movement
away from it. His paintings are prominently
displayed in the major galleries of the world,
occupying a particularly prominent place in
New York City's Museum of Modern Art.
Among Miró's most interesting paintings
are The Farm (1921-22), Still Life I (1922-
23). Still Life II (1922-23), The King's Jester
(1926), Dog Barking at the Moon (1926), Cir-
cus Horse (1927), Portrait of a Young Girl
(1935), Head of a Woman (1938), and Woman
and Little Girl in Front of the Sun (1946).
and literary skills brought him to the army
headquarters in M ADRID during the dictator-
ship of General P RIMO DE R IVERA . By 1930
he had been named director general of secu-
rity, a role as national police chief that suited
his precise and secretive tastes. Mola found
the various civilian police forces of Spain to
be poorly organized and inefficient, and he
applied himself to repairing these deficien-
cies. He also attempted to curb the rising agi-
tation on the Left that threatened the
monarchy. His rigorous methods earned him
such unpopularity that the slogan “Kill
Mola” was widely heard in 1931. After the
proclamation of the Second Republic in that
same year Mola continued to serve the new
government, being loyal to the nation rather
than to the king, but he was transferred to
M OROCCO to remove him from the center of
political controversy.
By the beginning of 1936, with the Popu-
lar Front government poised to introduce a
radically left-wing program, Mola was ready
to abandon his essentially neutral stance. He
had produced a number of memoranda for
the scrutiny of senior officers insisting on the
army's central position in the survival of the
Spanish state. He declared that any move-
ment or individual that challenged the army
was an enemy of the state and must be dealt
with ruthlessly. At the same time it had not
only become necessary to enlist all true
Spanish soldiers in the cause of the father-
land but to secure the support of right-
minded civilians as well. Mola emerged
during this period as the philosopher of what
became the Nationalist revolution. He never
abandoned, however, his insistence upon
the army's primacy in the “crusade” that was
about to be launched. He questioned the rel-
evance of a monarchical restoration at any
time in the near future and was deeply sus-
Mola, Emilio (1887-1937)
Spanish soldier and political conspirator
The son and grandson of army officers, Mola
exhibited a strong commitment to the prin-
ciples and honor of his chosen profession
from his days in the military academy
onward. The tall, solemn cadet was nick-
named “the Prussian” because of his earnest
and formalistic attitude toward all duties and
responsibilities. As an officer in the Moroc-
can campaigns his leadership qualities won
him steady promotion, but he was already
marked for staff duty. His intellectual gifts
 
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