Lot Essay
A Spanish exile of the civil war, Varo came to Mexico during the early forties and lived there for the remainder of her life. The strange mystic Mexican syncretism between the profane and the sacred, the inhabitants' surrealist way of living and the unique ironic and ritualistic manifestations of dual identities and meanings, certainly captured her in the same way Andre Bretón was captured during his visit years before. Varo was the pioneer of feminist surrealism, even if she did not consider herself a surrealist; her work not only involved the altered states of the oniric, but also a quest into an imaginary and concious condition.
Remedios was an avid reader of the Middle Ages Literature where the mythic, the sacred, the magical and the supernatural existed as everyday happenings. In her works, the influence from her readins is evident and one finds a strong duality and the collison of two worlds; the metaphysical and archaic with all the symbolism they involve; and the scientific, rational world. Her paintings work in many levels referring to the entire cosmos. In a philosophical level, there is a constant catharsis of all things as they all have a beginning, a death and a renewal.
In the painting Los amantes (1963), there are two characters depicted holding hands and gazing into each other. Soon, one realizes that their heads are represented as mirrors where the reflection of one is the reflection of both. This representation seems to signify a perfect unity by love, two bodies appear but one entity has replaced two souls. The knowledge of the other will reflect upon the knowledge of the inner self. It doesn't matter who or what to love as long as this feeling is discovered in thyself. Varo believed in love as a higher expression, where freedom and development of the self is part of a true relationship.
The reflected image in a mirror, as one can appreciate in René Magritte's oeuvre, was a theme highly explored by the surrealists. An important source of inspiration for this double entity might as well be a poem by Percy B. Shelly, called Epipsychidion signifying 'this soul out of my soul,' or the unity between both human beings, the self in the individual tries to efface the true identity of the other. As Remedios Varo said: 'One must be faced with the realization that no matter what shape box one may expectantly choose from the others waiting on the shelf, it is doubtful one will find anything new. Cound by fraying fabric to that other hand in the box, one confronts the reality of self exploration that is tied to the self one already knows.' (1)
Furthermore, the attachment of the two lovers is further suggested by the act of holding hands, the fear of abandonment might be near and letting loose might be dangerous as freedom can step in to kill this unconscious state. The intense moisture in the scene symbolizes their sexual attraction, as the rain touches their bodies it evaporates generating steam. As the steam condenses it will again become rain completing the full cycle of the love affair and returning to the primal source. Both of them are not aware of the environment around them as the inner experience is greater, absorbing them into an unknown world of camaderie and discovery. They will drown to give birth to a new beginning.
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1 J.A. Kaplan, Unexpected Journeys, The Art and Life of Remedios Varo, New York, 1988, p. 152
We are grateful to Mr. Jaime Moreno Villareal for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot.
Remedios was an avid reader of the Middle Ages Literature where the mythic, the sacred, the magical and the supernatural existed as everyday happenings. In her works, the influence from her readins is evident and one finds a strong duality and the collison of two worlds; the metaphysical and archaic with all the symbolism they involve; and the scientific, rational world. Her paintings work in many levels referring to the entire cosmos. In a philosophical level, there is a constant catharsis of all things as they all have a beginning, a death and a renewal.
In the painting Los amantes (1963), there are two characters depicted holding hands and gazing into each other. Soon, one realizes that their heads are represented as mirrors where the reflection of one is the reflection of both. This representation seems to signify a perfect unity by love, two bodies appear but one entity has replaced two souls. The knowledge of the other will reflect upon the knowledge of the inner self. It doesn't matter who or what to love as long as this feeling is discovered in thyself. Varo believed in love as a higher expression, where freedom and development of the self is part of a true relationship.
The reflected image in a mirror, as one can appreciate in René Magritte's oeuvre, was a theme highly explored by the surrealists. An important source of inspiration for this double entity might as well be a poem by Percy B. Shelly, called Epipsychidion signifying 'this soul out of my soul,' or the unity between both human beings, the self in the individual tries to efface the true identity of the other. As Remedios Varo said: 'One must be faced with the realization that no matter what shape box one may expectantly choose from the others waiting on the shelf, it is doubtful one will find anything new. Cound by fraying fabric to that other hand in the box, one confronts the reality of self exploration that is tied to the self one already knows.' (1)
Furthermore, the attachment of the two lovers is further suggested by the act of holding hands, the fear of abandonment might be near and letting loose might be dangerous as freedom can step in to kill this unconscious state. The intense moisture in the scene symbolizes their sexual attraction, as the rain touches their bodies it evaporates generating steam. As the steam condenses it will again become rain completing the full cycle of the love affair and returning to the primal source. Both of them are not aware of the environment around them as the inner experience is greater, absorbing them into an unknown world of camaderie and discovery. They will drown to give birth to a new beginning.
_________________________
1 J.A. Kaplan, Unexpected Journeys, The Art and Life of Remedios Varo, New York, 1988, p. 152
We are grateful to Mr. Jaime Moreno Villareal for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot.