Editing Remedios Varo (section)

==Early life and education==
María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga was born on 16 December 1908 in [[Anglès, Girona|Anglès]], a small town in the [[province of Girona]], in [[Catalonia]]. Remedios was named in honor of the [[Virgen de los Remedios]] ("Virgin of Remedies") as a 'remedy' for an older sister's death. She had two surviving siblings: an older brother Rodrigo, and a younger brother Luis. Her mother, Ignacia Uranga y Bergareche, was born [[Basque Argentines|in Argentina to Basque parents]] and her father, Rodrigo Varo y Zajalvo, was from [[Province of Córdoba (Spain)|Córdoba]] in [[Andalusia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=11–12}}</ref>

When Varo was a young child, her family moved frequently throughout Spain and North Africa to follow her father's work as a [[Hydraulic engineering|hydraulic engineer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=11}}</ref> While her father was a somewhat [[Agnosticism|agnostic]] liberal who studied [[Esperanto]],{{efn|Esperanto, a constructed [[international auxiliary language]], was associated with [[anticlericalism]] in Spain at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=14}}</ref>}} her mother was a devout Catholic and enrolled her in a strict [[convent school]] at the age of eight. Varo's father encouraged her artistic endeavors, taking her to museums and having her meticulously copy his diagrams. While in school, Varo was somewhat rebellious. She read authors such as [[Alexandre Dumas]], [[Jules Verne]], and [[Edgar Allan Poe]], as well as [[Mysticism|mystical]] literature and [[Eastern philosophy|Eastern spiritual]] works.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=14–16}}</ref> As a teenager she became interested in dreams, writing stories which developed fantastical themes she would later explore in her art.<ref name="Kaplan2000p18">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=18}}</ref>

In 1924, Varo enrolled at the prestigious [[Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando]] in [[Madrid]], a school known for rigid and exacting training. Aside from the required classes,{{efn|The Academia's curriculum included strict and traditional study in [[Body proportions|anatomy]], [[Composition (visual arts)|composition]], [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]], [[color theory]], [[architecture]], [[figure drawing]], [[still life]], [[landscape painting]], and [[Decorative arts|decorative painting]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=29}}</ref>}} she took an elective class in [[scientific drawing]]. One of her instructors was [[Realism (art movement)|Realist]] painter [[Manuel Benedito]], from whom she learned traditional [[oil painting]] techniques.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=27–29}}</ref> Much of the work she created from 1926–1935, particularly her academic paintings, has been lost; it is unknown what happened to those artworks.<ref>{{harvnb|Lozano|2000|p=25}}</ref>

In the 1920s, the [[Surrealism|Surrealist]] movement was becoming popular with the Madrid art scene; the city hosted [[avant-garde]] intellectuals and artists such as [[Federico García Lorca]], [[Luis Buñuel]], [[Rafael Alberti]], and [[Salvador Dalí]]. Varo became attracted to the surreal, finding inspiration in the works of [[Hieronymus Bosch]], [[Francisco Goya]], and [[El Greco]] which she visited at the [[Museo del Prado]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=29–30}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Berland|2016|p=132}}</ref>