REMEDIOS VARO’S DREAMLIKE WORLD ENCHANTS THE LOUISIANA

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk approaches the work of Remedios Varo (Anglés, Spain, 1908–Mexico City, Mexico, 1963) through a major retrospective featuring more than 70 works, in which the Danish museum examines her pictorial universe and the singularity of her themes as its principal axes. Through paintings, drawings, notebooks, and archival material, the exhibition provides an exhaustive examination of her entire body of work, proceeding in an almost chronological manner.

The exhibition explores, through its curatorial approach, questions related to creativity, knowledge, and perception, as well as the ideas that the Spanish-Mexican artist held regarding creative processes. The result is an opportunity to enter fully into the imaginary spaces that the artist depicted and which, from a contemporary perspective, invite a reconsideration of the boundaries between the real, the rational, and the fantastic.

Focusing on the dreamlike world, the exhibition places particular emphasis on the relationship between the world of dreams and reality, which the artist transformed into a personal hallmark and depicted masterfully. Her surrealist images, in which both realms converge, made it possible to present fantastic settings and imaginary landscapes inhabited by characters that radiate mystical and mysterious auras and that originated from eccentric and enigmatic worlds.

The unifying purpose enabled Varo to combine apparently opposing elements within cohesive scenes. Her constant references to mythology, mysticism, and occultism also made room for an emerging vision of science and technology. The convergence of all these elements functioned in her work as an instrument that enabled her to transform the boundless flow of ideas into a distinctive visual language of her own.

The exhibition also highlights the virtuosity of Varo’s technique and composition, aspects likewise imbued with an extraordinary sense of individuality. Her works are executed with extraordinary precision and meticulousness, following, in part, the stylistic approaches of one section of the Surrealists, while reinforced by the recovery and representation of her influences, particularly Italian painting of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This convergence further underscores another of the most archetypal elements of Varo’s painting: a certain simultaneity of scenes that confront the synchronicity of the temporal.

Remedios Varo is on view until 10 January 2027 at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Gl Strandvej 13, Humlebæk, Denmark.