Bio Creating artwork that can be described and nothing short of multifaceted, Remedios Varo was truly magical. Born to Don Rodrigo Varo y Zejalvo and Ignacia Uranga y Bergarche, Varo was a cultured child and began her life as a nomad due to her father's profession as a hydraulic engineer. In regard to personality and temperament, Varo took after her father. With an imagination that rivaled Varo’s, her father encouraged her creativity by teaching Varo skills in drawing using mechanical tools and taking her to museums where she was able to view the works of artists that would later have a monumental impact on her and her art. The moment her family settled, her mother instilled her with the beliefs of the Catholic Church by enrolling her into convent school, whether she liked it or not. During this time, Varo expanded on her fantastical interests by reading Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas as well as the literature of eastern mysticism.1 As a young child Varo’s occult interests were also developed; she truly believed in the power of magic and dreams. This is exemplified in a dream she later recalled when a devil-like creature assaulted her; the next morning her grandmother asked what happened to her and why was her hair burned.2 Her occult interest would deepen and be encouraged while participating in the Surrealist group. She was introduced to Surrealism during her time in the San Fernando Academy. Varo was able to enjoy a close and intimate relationship with the Surrealist movement due to her relationship with French Surrealist poet, Benjamin Peret with whom she met after he volunteered to help defend the Spanish Republic against the Nationalist rebels in 1 Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 11-15 2 Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 18 Bio Barcelona during the Barcelona Spanish civil War of 1931. After falling in love with Peret, the couple moved to Paris where Varo found herself at the center of the Parisian Surrealist movement.3 Varo, feeling an affinity for the group, was eager to participate despite the fear and intimidation she felt. While Kaplan explains that Varo’s young age may have been the culprit of Varo’s fear, the culture that Brenton created for the movement surely did not help ease Varo's mind. With that being said, the movement and its participants resonated with Varo. The bohemian lifestyle, the capital importance of art, the intuition and trust in the subconscious were all attractions. This sentiment will also be shown in some of her mature works. Nevertheless, Varo actually created art while in the Parisian Group. The artwork she created was not an example of Varo’s inspirations and influences though; the work she created leaned more towards the lines of imitation of some of the more known artists of the movement such as Dali, Magrete and Erst. Varo was not truly able to pursue her artistic interests until she settled in Mexico. Kaplan recounts Varo’s sentiments, “I came to Mexico searching for the peace that I had not found, neither in SPain - that of the revolution - nor in Europe - that of the terrible war - for me it was impossible to paint amidst such anguish.”4 Varo made two trips to Mexico, the first being a result of exile in 1941 and the second being in 1949 after leaving Venezuela. During her first visit to Mexico Varo experienced deep 3 Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 50-55 4 Islas Garcia, Luis, “Remedios Varo: En Pintura Me Interesa lo Mistico, Lo Misterioso,” Interview in uncited newspaper, n.d., n.d, quoted in Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 85. Bio relationships with fellow explants Leonora Carrington and Kaitie Horna. Both women would have a huge impact on Varo and inspire her in different ways. Varo and Carrington had a way of connecting that was intensely inspired by them. Both experiencing recent traumatic events, Carrington being recently released from an asylum in Spain and Varo being incarcerated and recently released from French detention. The women were able to communicate in an intimate way that allowed them to build a powerful emotional relationship as they understood suffering and pain in a way that others may not be able to relate to. In conjunction with this they shared unique interests; with Carrington, Varo was able to further explore her preoccupation with magic and the occult. This is exemplified in their creating magical recipes and tonics together. The two truly felt like soul mates.5 While Carrington fostered Varo’s magical interests, Horna, introducing Varo to Russian mysticism, was able to provide Varo with the means to explore her spiritual interests. While it has been recounted that Varo had many different spiritual interests and influenced (i.e. Catholicism), so far as I can tell the only explicitly listed proof of her actively seeking spiritual knowledge came from Horna’s introduction to George Ivanovich Gurdjiff. Gurdjiff is known as one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. With that being said his theoretical framework is built on the concept of attaining a higher consciousness or a conscious evolution of man. According to Gurdjiff this was only possible after “waking up” from the “waking sleep” a state that he claimed most people lived in. 5 Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 93 Bio The goal or aim is to be the master of one's actions, thoughts, and emotions complete control of the self. Once this is achieved, a person enters the state of “self - remembering.” Gurdjiff’s term “self - remembering” is not a unique concept as the principle is also found in Buddhism. Buddhist doctrine refers to this concept as “mindfulness.”6 Gurdjieff’s teaching must have resonated with Varo as Gruen recounts Varo attending Gurdjiff’s secret society chapter meetings in Mexico. This religious/spiritual interest is further illustrated by the contents of her library. She not only owned every book published by both Gurdjiff and his follower P.D. Ouspensky7 but she also had titles by other spiritual doctrines and leaders such as Alexandra David-Neel, a French explorer, spiritualist and Buddhsit. We will dive further into Varo’s interest in Gurdjieff and Buddhism later on in the paper. Varo’s second trip to Mexico would be her last as he settled there. Mexico not only offered her peace from the tremulous life she experienced but also introduced her to financial and emotional support from the friends she made along with her last husband Walter Gruen. Varo no longer sought a physical journey or adventure but now sought a psychological and spiritual journey during these years as a result of a lack of control of her previous ones.8 The last years of Varo’s life were spent pouring herself into her mature works of art that epitomized her interests and preoccupations of her life and she was able to create a unique visual language that was all her own. XXX 6 Kukharenko, Sergei. 2021. “Hindu and Buddhist Views Proliferation Influence on Gurdjieff’s Teaching.” International Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Society 11 (1): 49–62. doi:10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v11i01/49-62. 50-51 7 Walter Gruen, Remedios Varo: Catalogue Raisonne, 48. 8 Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988), 147 Bio With interests as broad and varied as Varo’s it is interesting to see how limited of a scope people view her in. As explained above, Varo’s interests and influences spanned a multitude of disciplines. She was interested/influenced by surrealism, science, alchemy, psychology, occultism, esotericism, hermeneutics, and even religion and spiritualism as seen by her past, growing up with a devout Catholic, as well as eastern mysticism as seen in her active following of Gurdjieff’s teaching.Varo’s artwork is autobiographical, it is a commentary of her present culture, and it is pro-female. Interestingly enough, despite all of these varied curiosities and successful artistic pursuits, Varo is all too often viewed under a limited lens. The aim of this paper is not to disprove or argue against what has been said about Varo and her artwork. With an oeuvre as broad as Varo’s it is nearly impossible to come to one distinct conclusion about her work. With this in mind, the goal of the paper is to add to the conversation that is already in existence. As mentioned Varo and her artwork is often seen in a limited way. It is so interesting that Varo is quite often placed in a box which primarily displays her influences and interest as it only relates to the occult, hermeneutics, and mysticism as seen by Haynes, Lusty, Kaplan, Chadwick and Gonzalez. Displayed in her bio, Varo was way more multifaceted than what others have given her credit to be. Having said that, Varo’s interests in Eastern mysticism is a topic with little consideration. Ricki O’Rawe, admittedly, has been the primary critic to begin this conversation in detail. O’Rawe taking the initiative to acknowledge Varo’s interest and influence of Gurdjieff’s teaching of The Way, when everyone else generally noted on Varo’s interest but essentially denied or played down direct or overt involvement in the Bio philosophy, was able to provide direct examples of how Gurdjieff’s teaching played a role in Varo’s artwork. Even though O’Rawe began the conversation it is by no means complete. It has been acknowledged that Gurdjieff and his teaching was and is informed in Buddist thought. Remembering that Varo spiritual interests spanned several different disciplines including Buddhism should not be considered a coincidence. The universal way to view Varo’s interests has been taking a look at the works she had in her library. Varo’s library included materials written by or about D.T. Suzuki, a Zen Buddist; a yoggi, Paramahansa Yoganada; and the Tibetan traveler Alexandra David-Neel.9 While owning books or materials does not mean that she actually read these books, it still informs her interests; with this Buddhist interest in conjunction with her actively seeking knowledge relating to Buddist thought, the idea that Varo was influenced by buddhism and included that influence in her artwork is not far fetched. While Varo’s visual language has been commonly thought of as scientific or mystical or occultish, when acknowledging the fact that Varo was influenced by Buddhism her visual language is expanded. In order to expand on the aforementioned gap in Varo’s Buddhist interest and how that informed her artwork and visual language, I will acknowledge the resourceful and unique way that Varo was able to utilize Buddhist themes while mixing in surreal and western tropes to create an artistic language that was completely unique to her. The following pages will not only begin with an understanding of how Varo melded the two worlds of Surrealism/Western tropes with 9 Debora Haynes. (1995). The Art of Remedios Varo: Issues of Gender Ambiguity and Religious Meaning. Woman’s Art Journal, 16(1), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.2307/1358627 28 Bio Buddhist ideology but will also take a look at Varo’s The Twisted Road, a lesser explored artwork in her oeuvre, to see how Varo actively and visually manifested this combination in her artistic depictions. By combining the Buddhist symbol of the Dharma Wheel in conjunction with the culture of surrealism as well as the western theme of the Phoenix, Varo is able to tell a descriptive story of strong women who will break or release themselves from the cycle of suffering imposed on them from the chauvinistic nature of surrealism with the use of the Dharma Wheel and in doing so was able to self-transform like the phoenix.
