Remedios Varo Uranga, born on 16th December 1908, was one of the few female surrealist artists recognized in the first half of the twentieth century. Through her distinct and unconventional approach to surrealism, she defied the male-dominated artistic milieu of the time.
When the Spanish war broke out, Varo fled to Paris where she was influenced by the surrealist movement. Francisco Goya and Hieronymus Bosch’s artworks played a major role in her style. However, the foundations of surrealism were laid early throughout her youth, fuelled by her multicultural upbringing and background. Her father was also a major influence, instilling in her essential principles such as her impassioned perfectionism and freedom of imagination, which eventually manifested in her art.
Varo found a safe haven in her paintings to rebel against catholic practices from her maternal side, from which she felt extremely confined. She fused supernatural entities and utopic technologies to create her own, unique aesthetic which can be seen in all her artworks.
Her major focus was mysticism and the occult, personally, I really admire the style and how she interprets her mystical thoughts and concepts into art while also rejecting Christian and religious symbols.
Varo passed away in 1963, under unfortunate circumstances at the peak of her career, from a heart in Mexico City.
The painting above is one of her paintings that stood out to me the most. At first, I thought about how the painting could depict the moon being trapped, but the title of the painting ” The star maker” really took me aback. I was so impressed by how she thought of this painting! A woman sitting in a small house feeding the moon to make stars, pushing them out through some simplistic technology.
The colors used in this painting are also really interestingly used. The sky is a dull grey, even though it is filled with stars and the bright mood that’s meant to be in the sky is in a cage that is in a small house. I love this painting and hope to develop my ideation and thinking abilities as Varo does.
Another really interesting aspect about Varo’s paintings that I found was the element of cats spread across some of her paintings. At first, I thought she adored cats but after researching, I realized that Varo painted cats to represent feminine symbols. I like how some painting’s main element is a cat while in some, for instance in her painting “Plant architecture” the cat is subtly placed in the center, in atone that almost merges with the background.
I find Surrealist art captivating since the interpretation is more open and it makes the viewer sit down and think about what the painting is trying to portray.
Works cited:
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-surrealists-paintings-inspire-witches-academics-alike