Strange Yet “Familiar”: Cats and Birds in Remedios Varo’s Artistic Universe

Abstract

Acat sits solemnly gazing at me, apparently oblivious to the whirling disk entering the room from a window above. Across the room, another cat peers up from a hole in the floorboards, astonished at a strange phenomenon taking place—his human companion is being transformed into the armchair in which she sits! Not far away, yet another cat sends out electrifying sparks as she’s gently stroked by her human, creating a permanent wave in her companion’s hair. And behind me are more, peering out from underneath cloaks, perched contentedly on their humans’ laps, lolling around a medieval tower. And the birds, the birds are almost everywhere—some perched in trees, others flying low, some peering out from the folds of draped cloaks, several others circling a group of girls, as if to herd them together. But the most astonishing ones are those flying off the artist’s page as soon as they are drawn! And what strange beings are these cat-human, cat-bird hybrids?