Useless Science or the Alchemist, 1955

Remedios Varo Uranga (December 16, 1908 - October 8, 1963) was a surrealist painter. She was born in Anglés, Spain in 1908 and died in Mexico City in 1963. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where she was largely influenced by the surrealist movement. She was forced into exile from Paris during the Nazi occupation of 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (352x714, 83 KB)Useless Science or the Alchemist by Remedios Varo, 1955. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (352x714, 83 KB)Useless Science or the Alchemist by Remedios Varo, 1955. ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... A painter is a person who paints woodwork, walls, etc. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México) is the name of a megacity located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus (altiplano) in the South of Mexico, about 2,240 meters (7,349 feet) above sea-level, surrounded on most sides... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... The Spanish Civil War (July 1936–April 1939) was a conflict in which the incumbent Second Spanish Republic and political left-wing groups fought against a right-wing nationalist insurrection led by General Francisco Franco, who eventually succeeded in ousting the Republican government and establishing a personal dictatorship. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world Paris is the capital and largest city of France, as well as the capital of the ÃŽle-de-France région, whose territory encompasses Paris and its suburbs. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ...

In Mexico she met native artists such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. However, her strongest ties would be to other exiles and expatriates, and especially her extraordinary friendship with the English painter Leonora Carrington. Her last major relationship would be with Walter Gruen, an Austrian who had endured concentration camps before escaping Europe. Gruen believed fiercely in Varo, and gave her the support that allowed her to fully concentrate on her painting. Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird - 1940 Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter of the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining realism and symbolism, an active Communist supporter, and wife of the Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego... Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo (photographer: Carl Van Vechten) Diego Rivera (born December 8, 1886 in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico – died November 24, 1957)), full name Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez) was a cubist painter... Leonora Carrington (born April 6, 1917 in Clayton Green, Lancashire, England - ) was a British-born Mexican novelist and surrealist painter. ...

After 1949 Varo developed into her mature and remarkable style, which remains beautifully enigmatic and instantly recognizable. She often worked in oil on masonite panels she prepared herself. Although her colors have the blended resonance of the oil medium, her brushwork often involved many fine strokes of paint laid closely together - a technique more reminiscent of egg tempera. She died at the height of her powers.

Her work continues to achieve successful retrospectives at major sites in Mexico and the United States.

Major Influences

Artistic Influences:

The allegorical nature of much of Varo's work especially recalls the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, and some critics, such as Dean Swinford, have described her art as "postmodern allegory," much in the tradition of Irrealism. Hieronymus Bosch; alleged portrait (around 1560) Hieronymus Bosch, also Jeroen Bosch, Jerome Bosch,(c. ... Irrealism is a philosophical term which seems to have been coined in the 1980s by Nelson Goodman to refer to the belief that the debate between realism and anti-realism was based on poor assumptions. ...

Varo was also influenced by styles as diverse as those of Francisco Goya, El Greco, Picasso, and Braque. While André Breton was a formative influence in her understanding of Surrealism, some of her paintings bear an uncanny resemblance to the Surrealist creations of the modern Greek-born Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico. Goya self-portrait. ... The Dormition of the Virgin - An early work of el Grecos painted in the late Byzantine style popular in Crete at the time. ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... ] Categories: People stubs | Modern artists | French painters | French sculptors | 1882 births | 1963 deaths | Cubism ... André Breton (February 18, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist. ... Kay Sage. ... Love Song 1914 Giorgio de Chirico (July 10, 1888 – November 20, 1978) was an influential pre-Surrealist Greek-Italian painter born in Volos, Greece to Italian parents who founded the scuola metafisica art movement. ...

In Mexico, she came under the influence of the primitive art of pre-Columbian cultures.

Philosophical Influences:

Varo was influenced by a wide range of mystic and hermetic traditions, both Western and non-Western. She turned with equal interest to the ideas of C. G. Jung as to the theories of G. I. 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, alchemy and the I-Ching. She saw in each of these an avenue to self-knowledge and the transformation of consciousness. Carl Gustav Jung Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the neopsychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Георгий Иванович Гюрджиев, Georgij Ivanovich Gjurdzhiev; January 13, 1872? - October 29, 1949), was a Greek-Armenian mystic and teacher of dancing. His teaching is about becoming more aware of ourselves in our daily lives. ... Peter D. Ouspensky (March 5, 1878, Moscow - October 2, 1947, England), (Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii, also Uspenskii or Uspensky) was a Russian philosopher with an analytic and mystical bent who combined geometry and psychology in his discussion of higher dimensions of existence. ... Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ... Johannes Eckhart (1260-1328), also known as Eckhart von Hochheim and widely refered to as Meister Eckhart, was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Erfurt, in Thuringia. ... Sufism (Arabic تصوف taṣawwuf) is a system of esoteric philosophy commonly associated with Islam. ... In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, cup or vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. ... For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). ... The I Ching is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ...

Sources:

• Dean Swinford, Defining irrealism: scientific development and allegorical possibility.

• Janet A. Kaplan, Unexpected Journeys: The Art and Life of Remedios Varo (New York: Abbeville, 1988), p. 164.

• Polyxeni Potter, Scientific Discovery and Women's Health.

Selected list of works

• 1935 El Tejido de los Sueños
• 1942 Gruta Magica
• 1947 Paludismo (Libélula)
• 1947 El Hombre de la Guadaña (Muerte en el Mercado)
• 1947 La Batalla
• 1947 Wahgwah
• 1947 Amibiasis o los Vegetales
• 1955 Useless Science or the Alchemist
• 1955 Ermitaño meditando
• 1955 La Revelacion o el Relojero
• 1955 Trasmundo
• 1955 El Flautista
• 1955 El Paraíso de los Gatos
• 1956 Cazadora de Astros
• 1956 To the Happiness of Women
• 1957 Creation of the Birds
• 1957 Women’s Tailor
• 1957 Caminos Tortuosos
• 1957 Reflejo Lunar
• 1957 El Gato Helecho
• 1958 Celestial Pabulum
• 1959 Exploration of the Source of the Orinoco River
• 1959 Catedral Vegetal
• 1959 Encounter
• 1960 Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst
• 1960 Visit to the Plastic Surgeon’s
• 1961 Vampiro
• 1961 Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle
• 1962 Vampiros Vegetarinos
• 1962 Fenomeno
• 1962 Spiral Transit
• 1963 Naturaleza Muerta Resucitado
• 1963 Still Life Reviving

1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...

External links

• Biography and Gallery of Artwork
• Biography
• Remedios Varo Bibliography
• Remedios Varo: Major Works
• Remedios Varo—A Compendium of Online Galleries, Biographies, Articles, and Miscellany
• Chronology of Remedios Varo
• Comprehensive Gallery of paintings by Remedios Varo (Language: Spanish)