Remedios Varo (1908-1963), Simpatía (La rabia del gato)

Remedios Varo (1908-1963)
Simpatía (La rabia del gato)
signed 'R. Varo' (lower right)
oil on Masonite
37 ¾ x 33 ½ in. (95.9 x 85.1 cm.)
Painted in 1955.

Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTION
Post Lot Text
1 Nancy Vosburg, “‘Strange Yet ‘Familiar’: Cats and Birds in Remedios Varo’s Artistic Universe” in Figuring Animals: Essays on Animal Images in Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Popular Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 81.
2 Janet Kaplan, Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys (New York: Abbeville, 2000), 89.
3 Cats appear in any number of additional paintings including the idyllic El Paraíso de los gatos of 1955, rejuvenative Energía cósmica of 1956, the cats built of ferns in El gato helecho of 1957, and Varo’s self-portrait Mimesis of 1960.
4 It is Remedios Varo’s cousin Beatriz Varo who reluctantly divulges that Varo copied paintings by Giorgio de Chirico in particular as a means of survival, stating so on camera in Especial TVE Catalunya: Remedios Varo, (July 2, 2018). Accessed March 21, 2019. http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/especials-en-catala/especial-tve-catalunya-remedios-varo/4652170/.
5 Tufic Makhlouf, Documental: Remedios Varo, misterio y revelación, Canal 22, (March 9, 2016). 13:50. Accessed March 29, 2019. My translation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INn3ZVia2gA.
6 The three other works were Alquimista, Roulette, and Música solar.
7 Written by Varo on a photograph of Simpatía as noted in Edith Mendoza Bolio, “A veces escribe como si trazase un boceto”: Los escritos de Remedios Varo (Monterrey: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2010), n.p. My translation.
8 Vosburg, “‘Strange Yet ‘Familiar,’” 83.
9 “Casi 190 mil se volvieron ‘Adictos a Remedios Varo’ con exposición,” (February 26, 2019). Accessed March 20, 2019. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/artes-visuales/casi-190-mil-se-volvieron-adictos-remedios-varo-con-exposicion.