Join exhibition co-curators Caitlin Haskell and Tere Arcq as they discuss the making of Remedios Varo: Science Fictions, the first US museum exhibition in over 20 years dedicated to the Spanish-born, Mexico-based Surrealist.

Bringing together more than 60 of Varo’s paintings, drawings, and sketchbooks from 1955 until her death in 1963, this show considers the artist’s practice of combining science, alchemy, magic, and mysticism with Surrealist automatic techniques.

About the Speakers

Caitlin Haskell is the Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has overseen the collection of modern art since 2018. Her research and writing address the production and critical reception of the art of the historical avant-gardes in Europe, as well as their legacies in the Americas. Haskell’s recent exhibitions include Rene Magritte: The Fifth Season (2018) at SFMOMA and Ray Johnson c/o (2021), Cezanne (2022), and Salvador Dalí: The Image Disappears (2023) at the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tere Arcq is an independent curator and art historian. Formerly chief curator of the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, she specializes in the work of women Surrealists in Mexico, with special focus on Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Alice Rahon. Arcq creates and produces exhibitions in Mexico and abroad, including In Wonderland: The Adventures of Women Surrealists in Mexico and the United States (2012), an international project presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the National Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec, and the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City. Her most recent exhibition and catalogue is Leonora Carrington: Revelación (2023), presented at the Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid.

Please note that this is an in-person event that takes place at the museum. In accordance with state and City of Chicago guidelines, visitors to the museum are no longer required to wear masks or provide proof of vaccination, though anyone who would like to wear a mask is encouraged to do so. If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19 in the week before your visit, we ask that you stay home. We appreciate your help in keeping the museum a healthy and safe place for our staff and visitors. Learn more about our visiting policies.

If you have any questions about programming, please reach out to museum-programs@artic.edu.

Image info:El Flautista (The Flutist), 1955 Remedios Varo. Museo de Arte Moderno; INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura. © 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

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Tags: Caitlin Haskell, Chicago, Conversation: Remedios Varo—Science Fictions, Illinois, Loop, Remedios Varo, Remedios Varo: Science Fictions, Science Fictions, Tere Arcq, The Art Institute of Chicago