Ремедиос Варо: Жизнь и творчество художницы-сюрреалиста

Spanish artist (1908–1963)

María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (known as Remedios Varo, 16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish surrealist painter working in Spain, France, and Mexico. Varo had a difficult life, struggling against poverty and fleeing from war in Spain and then France. In the last thirteen years of her life she found financial stability in Mexico, painting productively until her sudden death in 1963.

Remedios Varo Uranga was born in 1908 in Anglès, a small town in the province of Girona (Catalonia), in northeastern Spain. Varo's mother, Ignacia Uranga Bergareche, had been born to Basque parents in Argentina; she was a devout Roman Catholic. Her mother named her newborn in honor of the patron saint of Anglès, Virgen de los Remedios (the "Virgin of Remedies"), after a recently deceased older sister. Varo had two surviving siblings: an older brother Rodrigo, and a younger brother Luis. The very first works of Varo's a self portrait and several portraits of family members – date to 1923, when she was studying for a baccalaureate at the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1924, aged 15, she enrolled at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Madrid, under the tutelage of Manuel Benedito. In 1935, Varo participated in a drawing exhibition in Madrid, which displayed her Composición (Composition). In Paris, Varo lived in poverty, working odd jobs and having to copy and even to forge paintings in order to get by. producing around 110 paintings during her last decade. His financial stability allowed Varo to stop working as a commercial illustrator, with more time to devote to her painting. The bulk of Varo's significant artwork was produced during 1953–1963. She also turned to a wide range of mystic and hermetic traditions, both Western and non Western, for influence. She was influenced by her belief in magic and animistic faiths. She was very connected to nature and believed that there was strong relation between the plant, human, animal, and mechanical world. Her belief in mystical forces greatly influenced her paintings. She turned with equal interest to the ideas of Carl Jung as to the theories of George Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Helena Blavatsky, Meister Eckhart, and the Sufis, and was as fascinated with the legend of the Holy Grail as with sacred geometry, witchcraft, alchemy, and the I Ching. Varo described her beliefs about her own powers of witchcraft in a letter to English author Gerald Gardner, "Personally, I don’t believe I’m endowed with any special powers, but instead with an ability to see relationships of cause and effect quickly, and this beyond the ordinary limits of common logic." In 1938 and 1939, Varo joined her closest companions Frances, Roberto Matta, and Gordon Onslow Ford in exploring the fourth dimension, basing much of their studies off of Ouspensky's book Tertium Organum. The books Illustrated Anthology of Sorcery, Magic and Alchemy by Grillot de Givry and The History of Magic and the Occult by Kurt Seligmann were highly valued in Breton's Surrealist circle. She saw in each of these an avenue to self knowledge and the transformation of consciousness. She was also greatly influenced by her childhood journeys. She often depicted out of the ordinary vehicles in mystifying lands. These works echo her family travels in her childhood.

Among all the refugees that were forced to flee from Europe to Mexico City during and after World War II, Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Kati Horna formed a bond that would immensely affect their lives and work. They all lived in proximity to each other in the Colonia Roma district of Mexico City. Varo and Carrington had previously met through André Breton while living in Paris. Although Horna did not meet the other two until they were all in Mexico City, she was already familiar with the work of Varo and Carrington after being given a few of their paintings by Edward James, a British poet and patron of the surrealist movement. All three attended the meetings of followers of the Russian mystics Peter Ouspensky and George Gurdjieff. They were inspired by Gurdjieff's study of the evolution of consciousness and Ouspensky's idea of the possibility of four dimensional painting. Though deeply influenced by the ideas of the Russian mystics, the women often ridiculed the practices and behavior of those in the circle. The trio were sometimes referred to as "the three witches", because of their interest in the occult and spiritual practices. Varo and Carrington would remain extremely close friends for 20 years, until Varo's death in 1963.

Varo often painted images of women in confined spaces, achieving a sense of isolation. While Varo did not deem her own work feminist, "her work stretches the limits of and directly challenges confabulated, patriarchal ideals of femininity". Varo's work also focuses on psychoanalysis and its role in society and female agency. In speaking on Woman leaving the Psychoanalyst (1961), one of Varo's biographers states, "Not only does Varo debunk the idea of a correct process of mental healing, but also she trivializes the very nature of that process by representing the impossible: a physical and literal dismissal of the father, Order, and in Lacanian terms the official entrance into culture: verbal Language". In 1971 an exhibition of Varo's work was held at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City and enjoyed its highest ever attendance figures, exceeding those for exhibitions held to celebrate Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. The Crying of Lot 49, a novella by Thomas Pynchon, features a scene in which the main character recalls crying in front of a painting by Varo titled Bordando el Manto Terrestre ("Embroidering the Earth's Mantle"). Varo's painting The Lovers served as inspiration for some of the images used by Madonna in the music video for her 1995 single "Bedtime Story". On 22 May 2019 Varo's 1955 painting Simpatía (La rabia del gato) ("Sympathy: the madness of the cat") sold for $3.1 million at an auction at Christie's, New York City. In 2023, the Art Institute of Chicago held an exhibit of her work from July 29 through Nov 27, the first to be held of her work in the last 20 years in the U. S. with half of the works seen for the first time in the U. S.