Belonging to a bourgeois and freethinking family who supported her artistic inclinations, Remedios Varo (Anglés, Girona, 1908 – Mexico City, 1963) studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando [Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando] in Madrid, where she met Gerardo Lizárraga, also a painter, who would become her husband. In 1930 they moved to Barcelona and connected with the city’s artistic avant-garde. In 1935 she exhibited her first Surrealist paintings in Madrid and in 1936 she came into contact with Paul Éluard in Barcelona.

In 1937 she moved to France where she met Benjamin Péret and became integrated into the Surrealist circles alongside André Breton, Max Ernst, and Leonora Carrington. Varo participated in the group’s activities and at this time started signing her works as “Remedios.” The Nazi invasion forced her to leave Paris. In 1941 she arrived in Mexico with Péret. Accompanied by her brother, Rodrigo, who was researching malaria, she participated in an expedition down the Orinoco River and produced scientific drawings. Back in Mexico, starting in 1952, she abandoned commercial work in order to dedicate herself exclusively to her art. This marked a renewed beginning for her career. She held individual exhibitions, participated in group shows, became known as a key contemporary artist.