Remedios varo paintings, bio, ideas

Delving Deeper into Creation of the Birds

Creation of the Birds close look

“The Creation of the Birds” bears witness to the artist’s proficiency in surrealist methods and her deep familiarity with esoteric and mysterious phenomena. The painting literally takes the audience into a realm where the lines between the matter and spirit become vague, thus asking them to join the journey of self-exploration.

The central figure in the painting, wearing flowing robes and standing by various mysterious gadgets, appears to be a person of power and wisdom. The way their concentrated look and their exigent posture show their knowledge of the alchemical processes that are being held before them. The tangled network of mechanisms around the figure intimates a mixture of science and magic where the natural laws are manipulated by the master.

Birds placed everywhere in the composition introduce an element of motion and liveliness, similar to birds undergoing change or transition. Birds have carried their symbolic meaning through various cultures over time as representations of freedom, spirituality, and the soul’s journey towards enlightenment. In “Birds Creation,” they appear to have broken the earthly boundaries and now fly in the space with grace and purpose.

Maturity as an Artist

In 1947, Benjamin Péret returned to France, leaving Varo in the romantic company of a new lover, Jean Nicolle. This entanglement did not last, however, but soon gave way to a relationship with a new man, Austrian writer and refugee Walter Gruen, whom she married in 1952 and with whom she would remain until her death.

It was not until 1955 that Varo hit her stride as an artist, as she was finally afforded a period of uninterrupted time to paint, free from the burdens of worry due to her husband’s financial stability. Along with a prolonged period of production came her mature style, for which she is known today.

Her group show in 1955 at Galería Diana in Mexico City was met by such critical success that she was quickly awarded a solo show the following year. By the time of her death she had consistently sold out her gallery shows, often before they opened to the public. After decades of emotional, physical, and financial struggle, Varo was at last able to support herself on the strength of her artwork.

Varo died unexpectedly in 1963 at the age of 55, from an apparent heart attack.

She Admired the Old Masters

One of the unique features of Remedios Varo’s style was her deep admiration of medieval art and the Old Masters. The mythical creatures in her paintings often remind us of figures by Hieronymus Bosch, whom she admired during her years at the Madrid School of Fine Arts. In many ways, her works continued the tradition of great Spanish artists, occasionally referencing El Greco’s dramatic compositions or Francisco Goya’s nightmarish scenes.

Remedios Varo was certainly not fond of realism and excessive ties with the physical world. As a young artist in Barcelona, she joined the collective of painters known as Grupo Logicofobista, meaning Group of Logic-Phobes, which included Joan Miro and Salvador Dali, among others. The group despised artists like Gustave Courbet, who dived too deep into realism to retain the magic of artistic expression.

Interesting Facts

Alchemy Influence: Varo’s obsession with alchemy and the occult can be traced through all her works, such as “Creation of the Birds.” Alchemy with its focus on the transformation and spiritual evolution was a source of great symbolism and incentive for Varo in her artistic work.

Hidden Meanings: As with most surrealistic works, “Creation of the Birds” is full of symbolic images that are open to different interpretations. Varo frequently used personal experiences and philosophical concepts to enrich her paintings, creating significant components for inquisitive viewers.

Mystical Elements: The mysterious mood of the painting expresses the artist’s belief in the unity of all things and the power of overcoming the earthly boundaries. Just as her work blurs the lines between material and immaterial realms, viewers are encouraged to investigate the mysteries of the universe.

Remedios Varo Paintings

Remedios Varo Uranga (December 16, 1908 – October 8, 1963) was a Spanish-Mexican anarchist and para-surrealist painter. She was born in Anglès in the province of Girona, Spain. Her birth name was María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga in. She studied at the Academia de San Fernando de Madrid in 1924. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where, she found artistic inspiration in the surrealist movement. She was first married to the painter Gerardo Lizarraga, whom she never divorced. She met her second husband, the French surrealist poet Benjamin Péret in Barcelona. While there she was affiliated with the art group, Logicophobiste. They met one another through a mutual friendship with Oscar Dominguez, a Surrealist artist. Learn more »

Paintings by Remedios Varo in Chronological Order



Portrait of Grandmother Doña Josefa Zejalvo, 1926	Eyes on the table, 1938	Magic grotto, 1942

Tightrope walkers, 1944	My friend Agustin Lazo, 1945	Weird life, 1945

Gypsy and harlequin, 1947	Malaria, 1947	The battle, 1947

Allegory of Winter, 1948	Rheumatic pain, 1948	Pain, 1948

Cold, 1948	Rheumatic pain, 1948	Valley of the Moon, 1950

Garden of love, 1951	Premonition, 1953	Creation with astral rays, 1955

Cats Paradise, 1955	Breaking off, 1955	Revelation (The watch), 1955

Sympathy, 1955	Dead Leaves, 1956	Find, 1956

Harmony, 1956	Three destinations, 1956	Ladies’ Suit, 1957

Witch going to the Sabbath, 1957	Alchemy or the Useless Science, 1958	Farewell, 1958

The World, 1958	The rich, 1958	The Labrador, 1958

Fantastic animal, 1959	Homo rodans, 1959	Disturbing presence, 1959

Plant, 1960	Floral bouquet with birds, 1960	Portrait of Juan Martín, 1960

Embroidering the Earth’s mantle, 1961	By Aquarium, 1961	Aurora, 1962

Plant architecture, 1962	As the Volante, 1962	Still life Reslicitando, 1963

The Pollution of the Water	Exploring River of The Source Orinonoco	Ascension

Astral Personne	The ladies at Bonhuer	Bankersin Action

Night-fighter	Center of Universe	Cosmic Energy

Creation of the Birds	The Gathering	The Fern Cat

The Minotaur	Abut	Quiador

Phenomenon	Gravity	Towards The Tower

Hairy Locomotion	Ambulatory internship	Invocation

Expedition Aqua Aurea	The Flight	The Call

Emerging Luz	Microcosm	Mimicry

Saljendodel Woman Psychoanalyst	Born Again	Boy And Butterfly

Character	Character	Plant Insumsia

Caravan	Solar Music	Star Catcher

Star Maker	Trasitoen Espiral	Troubadour

Vagabond	Vegeta Vampires	Magic Flight or Zamfonia

The World Beyond	Female spirit of the night	I’ll pass them apart

Vagabond	The task	Lunar reflection

Theft of substance	The emigrants	Creation of the world or microcosm

The Juggler	Amoebiasis or vegetables	The flautist

Centaur tower Landscape	Taurus	The desire

Life in France

The situation in Spain reached new heights while Varo was living in France. As a result, General Franco closed the borders to all nationals with Republican sympathies. Varo was effectively barred from returning to her family under threat of capture and torture due to her political leanings. The reality of her situation was devastating to the artist, as she began life as a political exile, a status which would define her until she died.

Though still married to Lizarraga, Varo began a relationship with the much older surrealist poet Benjamin Péret, a fixture in the surrealist circle. Varo was briefly imprisoned by the French government due to her association with the communist-leaning Péret, a ghastly experience she would never forget. Péret’s status as one of the elder surrealists (and a good friend of Breton’s), however, ensured their relationship would withstand such trials.

Though never officially accepted by Breton, Varo was deeply involved with the surrealist project. Her work was included in the 1937 edition of the Surrealist journal Minataure, as well as in the International Surrealist Exhibitions in New York (1942) and Paris (1943).

Au Bonheur Des Dames (Au Bonheur Des Citoyens) (1956) by Remedios Varo.
EMMANUEL DUNAND / Getty Images

Accomplishments

Although an avid believer in the inter-relatedness of all things and people, including the inter-weave of sound, light and image, her paintings are not typically populated by multiple figures. Instead we are usually introduced to an isolated creaturely hybrid thinker/artist character, reminiscent of St. Jerome in his study or a wise crone wandering in search of new discoveries.
Varo repeatedly situates mystical machines in her pictures. Whilst in most cases such industrial looking devices function to make products that can be touched, held, and made use of, Varo’s structures are here to process that which we cannot see. As our emotions and psychological lives are intangible and invisible, it is useful to investigate them within some kind of known parameters, i.e. within a previously encountered system. Therefore, such apparatus, however made strange, help us to communicate what would be otherwise unspeakable ideas.
Varo surrounded herself by a group of likeminded women (with Leonora Carrington and Kati Horna in particular) also interested in alchemy and the occult. Together, these women — sometimes referred to as ‘the three witches’ — placed full attention on achieving a higher spiritual life, recognizing that such divine power would then in turn be transmuted more widely throughout the cosmos. They were sensitive to a shared ancestral/evolutionary feminine consciousness and felt determined to free women from repressive patriarchal hierarchies, often illustrated in the work of Varo by repeated motifs of the cage and the tower. Imbued at once with a natural and cultivated understanding of opposites and union, Varo and her friends transformed relatively small and domestic experiences into colossal and universal ideas.

What is Happening in Creation of the Birds

Creation of the Birds

Artist	Remedios Varo
Date Created	1957
Medium	Oil on Masonite
Genre	Surrealism
Period	Modern
Dimensions	68 cm × 68 cm (26.8 in × 26.8 in)
Series / Versions	N/A
Where is it housed?	Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City

“Creation of the Birds,” a masterpiece of 1957, is a fascinating image of a mesmerizing and mysterious scene resembling an alchemical laboratory. At the center of the painting is a robed figure, possibly a magician or a sorceress, controlling a complicated machine. This device is a hybrid of mechanical and organic items, which is emitting a bright light, telling us that a transformation is happening.

The central figure is surrounded with different symbolic elements such as birds, eggs and celestial bodies. The recurrence of birds in Varo’s artworks symbolize freedom, transcendence, and the search for human spirit’s enlightenment. The eggs stand for opportunities and new births, whereas the celestial bodies symbolize cosmic powers and the unity of the universe.

The general ambience of “Birds Creation” is one of mystery and magic, encouraging the audience to reflect upon the origin of creation and the human urge to unravel the secrets of the universe.

She Practiced Witchcraft and Alchemy

Initially, Remedios Varo believed Mexico was only a temporary shelter for her. In the early 1940s, it was a popular refuge spot for war-affected left-wing artists who were denied American visas due to their political views. The famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo played a significant role in their escape, arranging passages and communicating with Mexican officials. In Mexico, Remedios Varo met two other expatriate artists—a British artist, Leonora Carrington, and a Hungarian artist, Kati Horna. Together, the three women soon became known as the Three Witches.

They were three surrealist artists deeply immersed in the exploration of the spiritual. All of them were crafting their own worlds amidst chaos and violence, resorting to ancient practices of witchcraft, alchemy, and tarot. Remedios Varo never called herself a practicing witch, but she expressed interest in the Indigenous Mexican practices that were still thriving in remote villages. These practices, blended with Western traditions and symbols, have found their way into Varo’s compositions on rebirth, transformation, and spiritual awakening.

The book

It’s a critical and genetic edition of the writings of Remedios Varo that presents to the readers the complementarity between the different creative languages used by the Surrealist artist when she was exiled in Mexico. It is a fantastic study on her writings, that made me understand better not only her visual works but also her personality.

The book is divided in three parts: the first one is the study on the Varo’s writings, starting with the connection of the artist with the surrealist movement, but also explaining the connection between her writings and her visual work. In the second part we have the critic edition of all the texts written by Remedios Varo; and the last part is the genetic edition of Varo’s writings. One of the most important things about this study is that it divides Varo’s writing in two groups: one with the texts she wrote to a private context, and a second group with the texts that she wrote thinking on a public context.

Among the texts Varo’s herself made public are: Note written on the back of the drawing for Juan Soriano; the notes written on the back of photographs of her paintings that she sent to her brother Rodrigo Varo; De Homo Rodans and El caballero Juan Martín de Vilboa. Among the texts she didn’t made public are dream stories, other stories and letters. The book included also the play she wrote in collaboration with Leonora Carrington El santo cuerpo grasoso.

The notes written on the back are very important for the comprehension of her work as a painter, because they go beyond giving us the keys to understand her work, these notes encircle in themselves an aesthetic value that invites reflection. The notes complemented the idea of the painting creating what the Mendoza calls a “creative construct”. These notes written on the back were very short explanations of the paintings, but when the text and the image are joined together, they created a meaningful unity.

De Homo Rodans is a curious work because here text and sculpture are a single piece of art, that is the reason why it is considered as her first public text with commercial purposes. This work was created as a scientific parody, on one side we have the sculpture created with chicken bones and on the other a pseudo-anthropological study written in a Latin invented by the artist and trying to imitate an old manuscript.

El santo cuerpo grasoso, the play written in collaboration with Leonora Carrington is a fruit of the friendship and affinity of ideas that united both artists. It was written alternately between Varo and Carrington and it is known that it was written with a clear playful intention and to be represented by the group of friends, but there is no evidence that it has been represented.

Highly recommended for those who love Varo’s work or Surrealism, although unfortunately this study is only available in Spanish. However, there is an English translation of the writings of Remedios Varo.

References:

Mendoza Bolio, E. (2010). “A veces escribo como si trazase un boceto” – Los escritos de Remedios Varo.
Varo, Remedios. Letters, dreams and other writings. – English translation of Remedios Varo writings.

She Never Felt Truly Free

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The motif of being a perpetual outsider held in captivity by forces larger than her remained present throughout the complete oeuvre of Remedios Varo. After finishing her studies at the Catholic school (surprisingly, she was not expelled, unlike her future friend Leonora Carrington who also caused trouble in religious institutions), Varo started attending Madrid’s School of Fine Arts. Although the classes there gave Varos a strong basis for future work, they were nonetheless too academic and conservative for her opinions. Soon after her graduation, she married a fellow art student, Gerardo Lizarraga. The union was partially made because of her wish to flee from her family’s social expectations

In the works of Remedios Varo, women are often shown locked in cages, walled up in castles and towers, and tied to strings like puppets. Perhaps this was the way she felt as a woman desperately trying to maneuver the greatest historical tragedies of her time. In the 1930s, she fled her country for good after the Spanish Civil War erupted. Francoist Spain did not welcome its political exiles back, so going home anytime soon was not an option for Varo. Just several years later, Paris was captured by Nazi forces, with Varo briefly imprisoned for her leftist political activity. The details of her release were unclear since Remedios Varo refused to talk about it, but soon, she was fleeing Europe to Mexico, the place where she would spend the rest of her life.

Legacy

Varo’s posthumous career has been of even more repute than the brief years of flourishing she saw at the end of her life. Her work has been given many retrospectives beginning the year after her death, which was followed by retrospectives in 1971, 1984, and most recently in 2018.

Her death was lamented far beyond the close group of artists she had built around herself in exile, but extended to a world devastated to learn of the artist’s untimely death, as she no doubt had many years of creative expression left in her. Though she was never formally a part of the group, André Breton posthumously claimed her work as part of the surrealist cause, an act Varo herself may have found ironic, as she was known to disparage surrealism’s insistence on automatic production, a core tenet of Breton’s school.

The originality of her work, which combined a meticulous attention to layered and lustrous painted surfaces—a technique Varo learned in her classical painting classes back in Spain—with the deep psychological content still resonates with the world today.

Summary of Remedios Varo

The visionary lone painter, Remedios Varo, typically portrays herself sitting at a desk engaged in magical work, embarking on a journey to unlock true meaning, or dissolving completely into the environment that surrounds her. As a well-studied alchemist, seeker, and naturalist, however dreamlike her imagery may appear, it is in fact reality observed more clearly; Varo painted deep, intuitive, and multi-sensory pictures in hope to inspire learning and promote better individual balance in an interconnected universe. Interestingly, and understandably, it was not until the last 13 years of the artist’s life, having fled war-torn Europe, found home in Mexico (amongst a community of other displaced Surrealists) and finally become free of ongoing financial constraints that she was able to paint prolifically. Every work completed by Varo demonstrates profound technical skill and an extraordinary insight into human nature.

Early Life

Remedios Varo was born María de los Remedios Varo y Uranga in 1908 in the Girona region of Spain. As her father was an engineer, the family travelled often and never lived in one city for very long. In addition to traveling across Spain, the family spent time in Northern Africa. This exposure to world culture would eventually find its way into Varo’s art.

Raised within a strict Catholic country, Varo always found ways to rebel against the nuns who taught her in school. The spirit of rebellion against imposing authority and conformity is a theme seen throughout much of Varo’s work.

Varo’s father taught his young daughter to draw with the instruments of his trade and instilled in her an interest in rendering with precision and focus on detail, something that she would draw on throughout her life as an artist. From an early age she exhibited an unnatural talent for creating figures with personality, an aspect of her character that her parents encouraged, despite the relative lack of prospects for female artists at the time.

She entered the prestigious Academia de San Fernando in Madrid in 1923 at the age of 15. It was around the same time that the surrealist movement, founded in Paris by André Breton in 1924, made its way to Spain, where it captivated the young art student. Varo made trips to the Prado Museum and was drawn into the work of proto-surrealists like Hieronymous Bosch and Spain’s own Francisco de Goya.

An image of Spanish painter Remedios Varo, honored on an altar during the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations.
OMAR TORRES / Getty Images

While at school she met Gerardo Lizarraga, whom she married in 1930 at the age of 21, partially to escape her parents’ household. In 1932, the Second Republic of Spain was founded, the result of a bloodless coup, which deposed King Alfonso VIII. The young couple left for Paris, where they stayed a year, captivated by the city’s artistic avant-garde. When they eventually moved back to Spain, it was to the bohemian Barcelona, where they were a part of its burgeoning art scene. She would return to France a few years later.

The Mexico Years

Varo arrived in Mexico in 1941 with Péret, having escaped Nazi encroachment in France through the port of Marseilles. The emotional trials of transition made it difficult for Varo to begin painting with the same force she did in Europe, and the first few years in Mexico saw the artist focus more on writing than art. Among these writings are a series of “prank letters,” in which Varo would write to a person at random, asking him or her to visit her at a future date and time.

To earn money, she took up a series of odd jobs that centered around painting, which included costume design, advertising, and a collaboration with a friend painting wooden toys. She frequently worked with the pharmaceutical company Bayer, for which she designed advertisements.

Useful Resources on Remedios Varo

Books
articles
video clips

Books

The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet.
biography

Remedios Varo: Unexpected JourneysOur Pick

By Janet Kaplan
Remedios Varo: The Mexican Years
By Masayo Nonaka
Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna
By Stefan Van Raay and Joanna Moorhead, et al.

artworks

The Magic of Remedios Varo
By Lozano Martin-Luis
The Five Keys to the Secret World of Remedios VaroOur Pick

By Tere Arcq, Fariba Bogzaran, Jaime Moreno Villarreal, et al.
Remedios Varo. Catalogo Razonado
By Walter Gruen

View more books

articles

video clips