Scientific Discovery and Women's Health

urrealism claims totally the work of the enchantress too soon gone, " said André Breton, when he heard that Remedios Varo had died, in 1963 (1). Surrealism, which sought to express " the actual functioning of thought, " was Varo's vehicle for understanding the universe, a vehicle that, like the fanciful locomotives in many of her paintings, went beyond established scientific principles. Bolstered by intuition and intellectual curiosity, the movement accessed the world of dreams, memory, and the psyche (2). To this expansive world, Varo brought knowledge of engineering construction , painstaking attention to detail, a penchant for philosophical discourse, and fascination with alchemy and the occult (3). The result was a personal approach to surrealism, the unified vision of a fantastic world inhabited by creatures of the imagination, moving freely in and out of consciousness, proposing new solutions, offering alternative interpretations. A native of Angles, Spain, Remedios Varo grew up in a family that nurtured academic and artistic aspirations. Her father, a hydraulics engineer, encouraged her interest in science and taught her how to draft images, a skill she used throughout her artistic career. At age 15, she enrolled in the renowned fine arts academy of San Fernando in Madrid, also attended around the same time by budding surrealist, Salvador Dalí. At the academy, which featured such lecturers as Varo became familiar with new ideas: the theories of Sigmund Freud, which broadened the boundaries of reality , the work of André Breton, which defined surrealism as a literary and artistic movement. She was exposed to the treasures of the Prado Museum and the influences of Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, El Greco, Picasso, and Braque. Varo's rigorous academic training formed the backbone of an artistic career marked by innovation and creativity and frequently interrupted by conflict. The Spanish Civil War forced her to flee Barcelona, where she had become part of the bohemian avant-garde, for Paris, where she apprenticed among the surreal-ists' inner circle and exhibited her work widely. She left Europe to escape World War II, and Mexico became the adoptive home where in the last 10 years of her life she produced the bulk of her mature work. Mexico, with its pre-Columbian cultures, primitive art, and abundant hospitality , provided Varo broad artistic freedom and an exciting context in which to practice surrealist rebellion. Yet, her first few years in exile were marked by economic hardship and emotional …