Helios Gómez Rodríguez was born on 27 May 1905 in the Romani neighbourhood of Triana in Seville, Spain. He is an exceptionally significant figure in the history of the Roma in Spain, not only because of his political engagement during critical periods such as the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist Dictatorship, but also for his creative expression as a painter, poster artist, and writer.
Youth and Early Activities
Helios Gómez grew up in the modest neighbourhood of Triana, renowned for its deep connection with flamenco and its predominantly Cale [Spanish: caló] population. From an early age, he developed a self-taught interest in painting, and by the age of fifteen, he was already taking courses in ceramic painting, studying at the Industrial School of Arts and Crafts in Seville, and later working at the Fábrica de Loza La Cartuja de Sevilla-Pickman S.A., a famous ceramic company.
At the same time, he became involved with anarchist and syndicalist circles that flourished in Andalusia during the 1920s, beginning his political activism and publishing illustrations for anarchist writers such as Felipe Alaiz (1887–1959). His artwork was soon exhibited in several venues, including the Kursaal in Seville, and later in the Dalmau Galleries in Barcelona and the Ateneo of Madrid.
Early Exile and Return
Because of his political convictions, Gómez was forced to leave Spain during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1870–1930), which lasted from 1923 to 1930. The rise of Fascism in Europe further deepened his commitment to the anarchist movement. He took advantage of his time abroad to explore various avant-garde artistic styles and returned to Spain in 1930, settling in Barcelona. There, he fully developed an artistic expression grounded in the social and political realities of his time, blending avant-garde aesthetics with a form of realism intended to reach the people. Gradually, he also began to incorporate his ethnic identity into his artistic discourse, publicly declaring his Romani heritage.
Once settled in Barcelona, Gómez underwent a political transformation, leaving the anarchist movement to join the Communist Party of Spain, convinced that it represented the most effective force against the Fascism spreading across Europe. He became increasingly active in political rallies and meetings, producing propaganda, illustrations, and posters denouncing social injustice.
Much of his work criticised the monarchy and conservative ideology, earning him political enemies. For these reasons, he was imprisoned in the Modelo Prison of Barcelona on an indefinite sentence; it is unclear from the sources how many months of his term he served. One of his fellow prisoners was Mariano Rodríguez Vázquez (1909–1939), who would later become secretary general of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo [National Confederation of Labour]. Although Gómez did not achieve the same level of political prominence, he played an important role in the political and artistic spheres. He lived for a period, between 1934 and 1936 approximately, in the Soviet Union and in 1936 he co-founded the Union of Draftsmen in Spain, an organisation dedicated to producing pro-Republican propaganda.
The Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
Helios Gómez was deeply affected by the military uprising led by Francisco Franco (1892–1975), which ignited the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and culminated in a dictatorship that lasted nearly forty years. During the war, Gómez saw active service on the battlefronts, and several contemporary press photographs attest to his involvement.
Experiencing the war firsthand, he found in it a profound source of inspiration for his later drawings, which he titled ‘Horrores de la Guerra’ [Horrors of War]. These works depict the brutal reality of the conflict, particularly its impact on civilian victims. By that time, he had returned to his anarchist activism, and during the 1930s he served as editor of the anarchist newspaper El Frente, as part of his work upon being appointed Militiaman of Culture of the 26th Division, formerly the Durruti Column. Among his tasks, he also organised important events, such as the tribute to Buenaventura Durruti (1896–1936) that took place in Barcelona. It had already become common to see in many of his works the presence of Romani elements and an iconography in which he presented himself as a Romani, anarchist, and communist author—always guided by the aim of raising awareness and reaching the popular classes.
Although his activity did not cease with the Republican defeat, it forced him once again into exile, and he crossed into France in 1939. There, he was interned in Vernet d’Ariège and deported to Algeria in 1940 to the internment camp for the Spanish in Djelfa where he remained until 1942.
A New Return to Spain
Just as he had done a decade earlier, Helios Gómez insisted on returning to his homeland, though this time it was under a military dictatorship. Having been released in Algeria, he soon found himself once again imprisoned—this time by Francoist authorities. His arrest stemmed from the fact that, upon his return to Spain, he founded the ‘Republican National Liberation Group’ in 1944, just a year after the government had issued an order instructing the Civil Guard to pursue and discipline all Roma people in the national territory. In this context, he was again incarcerated in Barcelona’s Modelo Prison during two separate periods—between 1945 and 1946, and again between 1948 and 1954—since, despite being released on parole, he was repeatedly detained for clandestine activities such as painting murals and engaging in anti-Francoist discussions.
After learning about the genocide of Roma in Europe, he became even more committed to affirming his Romani identity. During his imprisonment in the Modelo Prison, he was compelled to paint the prison chapel, an opportunity he used to create his distinctive ‘Capilla Gitana’ [Romani Chapel]. The work depicts angels of Romani and Black inspiration, as well as a symbolic vision of the oppressed. It continues to be the subject of preservation efforts despite an earlier attempt to erase it—allegedly for ‘hygienic reasons’—as late as 1998.
In addition, Gómez took advantage of his confinement to dedicate himself to writing, producing two historical novels—‘Gabrielillo Vargas, gitano rojo’ and ‘Historia de los Gitanos’—along with dozens of poems centred on the Romani experience, later published posthumously under the title ‘Poemas de lucha y sueños, 1942–1956’ [Poems of Struggle and Dreams, 1942–1956].
The harsh living conditions in prison ultimately cost him his own life. His health deteriorated rapidly after his release, leading to his death in Barcelona on 19 September 1956.
Although he was a recognised artist in his time, his fame was limited by the social and political circumstances of the era. Over the years, he also fell into obscurity, in part due to the repressive atmosphere of the dictatorship. In recent times, however, his work has been reappraised, particularly thanks to the donation of a number of his works to the National Museum of Art of Catalonia by his son, Gabriel Gómez (1943–2025)—forming the most significant public collection of Helios Gómez to date. The Helios Gómez Cultural Association continues to fight for the preservation of his legacy, with a particular focus on recovering what has been lost—especially the Romani Chapel in the former Modelo Prison.
