Remedios Varo was born in Spain in 1908. Remedios always struggled to combine the mythic with the scientific, the sacred with the profane. She went into a convent for an art school in Madrid. After this, she decided to evade the civil war that was going on in Spain and emigrate to Paris where the art movements were in vogue. She was forced into exile from Paris when the Nazi occupied France and moved to Mexico City at the end of 1941. She initially considered Mexico a temporary haven, but would remain in Latin America for the rest of her life.

In Europe she was influenced by the surrealist movement and the metaphysics studies. She was motivated by ancient studies and literature, but also by physics, mathematics, engineering, biology and psychoanalisis. With a friend she met in Europe she decided to move to Mexico. In Mexico her real journey as an artist started. Once in Mexico, Varo decided to realize one of the most beautiful travels... the one to her imagination. She has a collection of approximately 140 art works. Of which 110 were produced at Mexico City.

Her characters are mystical and solitary; most of the times involved in scientifical activities. They often have almond-shaped eyes, and androgynous features of Varo's self portraits. Remedios was influenced mainly by her father who encouraged her to develop the ability of drafting. She went to one of the most recognized art schools worldwide, the San Fernando Academy in Spain. There she met Salvador Dalí and followed his skills. She uses lots of symbolism and hidden animals, mainly cats, in her paintings.

Diverse characters emerge in her painting with unusual attitudes: contemplative, passive, highly symbolic; reflection of the instability which can be overcome or changed. All of them are part of a unique world which involves developed concepts of magic and imagination. Remedios also used vehicles (father influence) in most of her paintings. These are utopian vehicles of cosmic propulsion travelling through land, air and sea, with gears, sails and transmissions that respond to superior energy sources. In the fall of 1963 she died by excessive tension:

Excessive tension on these (eyeball) muscles, called the Rectus muscles, creates a condition of farsightedness, and is experienced emotionally as tension in the consciousness, as coming out of one's Self, focusing on Image. It may be experienced as suppressed anger, or anger at one's self (guilt), or a feeling that in some way, the individual is not as important as other Beings. Source

Was this what killed her?

Some of my favorite works of Varo:

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Remedios Varo, 1908-1963
Unexpected Journeys