Farewell 1958

Editor: This is Remedios Varo's "Farewell," painted in 1958 using oil paints. The sheer number of brick making up the path and architecture, combined with the single colour, it feels very claustrophobic to me. What can you tell me about it? Curator: It's interesting to consider this painting through a materialist lens. Look closely at the depiction of labor. How do you think the repeated forms, these seemingly endless rows of bricks, are portraying repetitive labour and its alienating effects? Editor: It's like the figures are trapped within the product of labour itself – brick by brick – and unable to escape it, constantly going around and around the endless corridor. Does the single colour enhance this by restricting artistic choices, thereby also resembling labour itself? Curator: Exactly! And what about the single cat, or the light, seemingly shining at the corridor’s end? Varo often used precise techniques, a product of highly specialized skills and tools that were hard to come by. In what way do these materials and processes either confirm or challenge conventional notions of "high" art versus craft in this setting? Editor: The fact that a seemingly dream-like surreal setting uses real architectural materials, such as bricks and stone-like settings, almost renders the work as functional instead of artistic. It blends these concepts together, becoming very post-modern in its execution, by playing with these ideas that blur art and practical purpose together. I see what you mean! Curator: Indeed. Considering Varo's detailed method, "Farewell" gives a rich viewpoint into labour and its effect, questioning accepted creative and craft divisions. I'm glad we had this opportunity to engage with her ideas in such a creative way. Editor: Thank you for helping me see Varo’s work in such a unique light! I'll never be able to look at it the same way again!