Remedios Varo, a surrealist painter born in 1908 in Anglés, Girona, Spain, is one of the most important figures in 20th-century art in Mexico, where she developed much of her work and spent the last years of her life.

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From a young age, she showed a strong interest in painting, which led her to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, becoming part of a generation seeking to renew traditional art with new international trends.

During the Spanish Civil War, Remedios married the poet and surrealist writer Benjamin Péret, and due to the political conflict and subsequent persecution, they both fled to France. In Paris, Varo connected with prominent surrealist artists, including André Breton, Max Ernst, and Leonora Carrington, who became a close friend and important influence on her work. However, the Nazi occupation forced Remedios to leave Europe; in 1941, she managed to exile herself to Mexico thanks to a visa provided by organizations supporting refugee intellectuals and artists.

In Mexico, Remedios Varo found a supportive environment to continue her artistic work. She joined a circle of intellectuals and creators and resumed surrealism with her own style, characterized by dreamlike images combining elements of alchemy, science, mysticism, and fantastic forms reminiscent of medieval art.

Her paintings often include female figures living in imaginary worlds full of symbolism and metaphors, illustrating her ideas about creation, knowledge, and transformation. Works like “Creation of the Birds” and “Still Life Resurrecting” showcase this unique visual language she developed.

Her work was not limited to painting. She also created sculptures with organic materials and everyday objects, exploring new forms of expression that expanded the possibilities of surrealist art. In 1956, she held her first major solo exhibition in Mexico City, and from then on, her work began to gain international recognition.

Remedios Varo’s career was marked by exile, a constant search for new artistic forms, and a life dedicated to creation. She died in Mexico City in 1963 from a heart attack while still in full creative flow. Today, she is considered an icon of Mexican surrealism and one of the most innovative and memorable avant-garde artists in Latin America, whose legacy continues to attract interest and study worldwide.

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