The Spiral Journey: Images of Remedios Varo’s Journey Toward Wholeness

This lecture explores the archetypal images of the extraordinary artist Remedios Varo, who painted her story of individuation.

Her work reveals a uniquely feminine perspective of the alchemical process of transformation. Varo was trained in classical and surrealist art, but her magical images are wholly unique. They reflect her deep rapport with the archetypal world which she expresses with the detail of medieval miniature and the sensibility of a woman attuned to a profound understanding of the soul.

In her art, the theory of correspondences – that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm – is a visual reality. The imaginal world Varo creates captivates with the jewel-like quality of a Book of Hours, yet is utterly a reflection of a modern woman’s inner journey towards the experience of her fuller, deeper identity. Jung called this the process of Individuation. Remedios Varo’s extraordinary visual document of her psychological journey even includes a painting entitled Leaving the Psychoanalyst’s Office, which shows the initials FJA, for Freud, Jung and Adler, inscribed on the office door’s bronze plaque.