Still life Reslicitando 1963

Remedios Varo made this painting called Still Life Reslicitando with oil on masonite, in what looks like a very intuitive, layered way. There’s a kind of tension between the meticulous rendering and the pure surrealism of the image. The materiality is fascinating. Look at the way she’s built up the paint, almost like a textile, and then offset that against the glowing, smooth halos of light around the objects. See the top right corner, where the two halves of the fruit are barely connected? I wonder if that’s about how we’re often on the verge of falling apart, but some barely-there thread keeps us together? Varo reminds me of Dorothea Tanning, in that both artists use a traditional technique to create images of pure imaginative freedom. Ultimately, art is not about answers but about embracing the mystery.