Expedition to the Source - Remedios Varo
Archival giclée
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Description
A surrealist composition by Remedios Varo, depicting four hooded figures on a mysterious, fur-lined vessel traversing a frozen, wintry landscape.
Remedios Varo, a Spanish-born artist who spent her most productive years in Mexico, created this work in 1955. The painting depicts a group of four figures travelling across a frozen, desolate terrain within a peculiar, fur-lined vessel. This craft, suspended by delicate rigging beneath a sail, moves on runners, suggesting a hybrid of a sleigh and a primitive flying machine. The figures, dressed in hooded garments, possess the elongated, bird-like facial features characteristic of Varo's human subjects. One figure holds a glass containing a golden liquid, which provides the primary source of colour in an otherwise monochromatic, icy environment.
Varo often explored themes of alchemy, scientific discovery, and spiritual quests. Her technical approach involves precise, thin brushwork, which allows for the rendering of fine textures, such as the fur of the vessel and the crystalline quality of the snow. The composition relies on a vertical orientation, drawing the eye from the foreground runners up to the sail, which echoes the pointed shapes of the distant, snow-covered mountains. The atmosphere is quiet and contemplative, suggesting a journey that is as much internal or metaphysical as it is physical. The lighting is diffuse, casting soft shadows that enhance the sense of isolation and the otherworldly nature of the expedition.
This piece demonstrates Varo's ability to construct complex, mechanical contraptions that appear functional yet defy conventional logic. By placing these figures in a harsh, winter climate, she creates a contrast between the warmth of their shared purpose and the cold, indifferent surroundings. The work invites viewers to consider the nature of the quest itself, as the destination remains obscured by the horizon. Varo's mastery of oil on masonite provides a smooth, durable surface that supports her meticulous attention to detail and her unique, dream-like visual vocabulary.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
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- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Expedition to the Source - Remedios Varo
Artist Biography
Remedios Varo
She graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1930, one of the few women in her class. In Barcelona she fell in with the Surrealists and, through them, with the poet Benjamin Peret, who became her partner. When Paris fell, she was jailed on suspicion of espionage. After her release she and Peret boarded one of the last ships allowed to leave France, arriving in Mexico in 1941.
In Mexico City she became inseparable from the English Surrealist Leonora Carrington. Together with the photographer Kati Horna, the three were called the Three Witches. They attended meetings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky followers, studied alchemy and Jungian dream theory, and put ink in tapioca pearls to serve as caviar at dinner parties for Octavio Paz.
She did not paint prolifically until the last thirteen years of her life, once she was financially stable and free of wartime displacement. The paintings from this period are meticulous: tiny figures in architectural spaces that obey their own physics, conducting experiments with starlight or weaving the fabric of the universe from threads pulled out of the air.
Her posthumous retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City in 1971 drew more visitors than shows by Diego Rivera or David Alfaro Siqueiros. She had died of a heart attack in 1963, at fifty-four, at the peak of her working life.
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