Editing Remedios Varo (section)

=== Mexico ===
[[File:Varo Remedios (6857423303).jpg|thumb|''Roulotte'', 1956]]
[[File:Detail from "La Huida" Remedios Varo 1961 (18813895620).jpg|thumb|''La huida'', detail, 1961]]
Varo arrived in Mexico City in late 1941, part of a large migration of Spanish intellectuals and artists. The Mexican government under [[Lázaro Cárdenas]] gave Spanish refugees asylum and automatic citizenship, with few restrictions on employment; the European émigrés therefore contributed significantly to Mexico's economy and culture. Varo and Péret, rather than becoming ingratiated with the Mexican artistic community, preferred to associate with other Europeans, including old friends Lizárraga and Francés. Also within their circle were [[Gunther Gerzso]], Kati Horna, Emerico Weisz, [[Dorothy Hood]], [[Luis Buñuel]], [[César Moro]], Wolfgang Paalen, and [[Alice Rahon]]. Leonora Carrington, whom Varo had previously met in Paris, would become Varo's closest friend.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=85–88}}</ref>

Varo and Péret rented a [[tenement]] apartment together in the [[Colonia San Rafael]] neighborhood, which Varo decorated with artwork and objects she thought of as magical. She also took care of several birds and stray cats.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=90–92}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Vosburg|2005|p=83}}: "Varo was renowned for taking in stray cats from the streets, and few who visited her refrained from commenting on it."</ref> They were impoverished, and Varo supported herself and Péret by working odd jobs, including for [[Marc Chagall]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=97–98}}</ref> She made her most consistent living from producing illustrations for [[Bayer]] advertisements.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=104–108}}</ref> During the early 1940s, Varo focused on writing as a creative outlet, producing few paintings.<ref name="Kaplan2000p93">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=93}}</ref>

In 1947 Péret wanted to return to France, while Varo wished to stay in Mexico, which by then she viewed as her home. Péret moved back to Paris, and Varo started a relationship with a French pilot and fellow refugee named Jean Nicolle. They initially moved in together with Horna in the [[Colonia Roma]] neighborhood; they later moved into Lizárraga's previous apartment.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|pp=111–113}}</ref>

Soon after, she joined a French scientific expedition in Venezuela with Nicolle. There she visited her mother and brother Rodrigo, an [[Epidemiology|epidemiologist]]. Varo, staying in [[Caracas]] and [[Maracay]], studied [[mosquito]]es with a microscope and produced drawings of them for a Public Ministry of Health campaign against [[malaria]]. She returned to Mexico City in 1949, after struggling to obtain funds for travel back.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=114}}</ref><ref name="GruenP46">{{harvnb|Gruen|1998|p=46}}</ref>

In 1952 Varo married Austrian refugee Walter Gruen, and ended her career in commercial graphic design in favor of her personal art.<ref name="GruenP46" /> Varo found critical and financial success with two exhibitions at the [[Galería Diana]], including her first solo exhibition, in 1955–1956.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1998|p=47}}</ref> The success of the 1955 solo exhibition allowed Varo to establish a waiting list for buyers.<ref name="Kaplan1987p38">{{harvnb|Kaplan|1987|p=38}}</ref> Her second and final solo exhibition took place at the [[Galería Juan Martín]] in 1962; all of the paintings displayed were sold.<ref name="GruenP48">{{harvnb|Gruen|1998|p=48}}</ref>

Varo painted her final finished canvas, titled ''Still Life Reviving'', in 1963. She died of a heart attack on 8 October of the same year.<ref name="GruenP48" />

==== Relationship with Leonora Carrington and Kati Horna ====
Initially having met in Paris in the 1930s when the latter was living with [[Max Ernst]], Varo and Carrington reunited in Mexico City. Carrington was an English artist who bonded with Varo over their shared experiences.<ref name="Kaplan2000p93" />{{efn|When the two met in Mexico, Carrington had recently been released from hospitalization in a mental institution in Spain, and Varo had been released from French imprisonment.<ref name=Kaplan2000p93/>}} Carrington and Varo shared an interest in the occult and magic, and they found inspiration in the folk practices of Mexico.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2000|p=96}}</ref>

Among all the refugees that were forced to flee from Europe to Mexico City during and after World War II, Remedios Varo, [[Leonora Carrington]], and [[Kati Horna]] formed a bond that would immensely affect their lives and work. They lived close to each other in the [[Colonia Roma]] district of Mexico City.

Varo and Carrington had previously met through [[André Breton]] while living in Paris. Although Horna did not meet the other two until they were all in Mexico City, she was already familiar with the work of Varo and Carrington after being given a few of their paintings by [[Edward James]], a British poet and patron of the surrealist movement.

All three attended the meetings of followers of the Russian mystics [[P. D. Ouspensky|Peter Ouspensky]] and [[George Gurdjieff]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arcq |first=Teresa |title=Five Keys to the Secret World of Remedios Varo |publisher=Artes de México |year=2008 |location=Mexico City |pages=21–87}}</ref> They were inspired by Gurdjieff's study of the evolution of consciousness and Ouspensky's idea of the possibility of [[Fourth dimension in art|four-dimensional painting]]. Though deeply influenced by the ideas of the Russian mystics, the women often ridiculed the practices and behavior of those in the circle.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} The trio were sometimes referred to as "the three witches", because of their interest in the occult and spiritual practices.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remedios Varo Paintings, Bio, Ideas |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/varo-remedios/ |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=The Art Story}}</ref>

After becoming friends, Varo and Carrington began writing collaboratively and wrote two plays together which were not published: ''El santo cuerpo grasoso'' and (unfinished) ''Lady Milagra''. Using a technique similar to ''cadavre exquis'', they took turns writing small segments of text and put them together. Even when not writing together, they were often drawing from the same sources of inspiration and using the same themes in their paintings.<ref>{{harvnb|van Raaij|Moorhead|Arcq|2010|pp=17–20}}</ref> Varo and Carrington remained close friends until Varo's death in 1963.<ref>{{harvnb|van Raaij|Moorhead|Arcq|2010|pp=}}</ref>