Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2014
Capstone Advisor
Kathryn Everly, Associate Professor of Spanish Literature and Culture
Honors Reader
Luis Castañeda, Assistant Professor of Art History
Capstone Major
Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Humanities
Subject Categories
Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature | Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature | Spanish Literature
Abstract
Surrealism—a literary and artistic movement that has often been criticized for being misogynistic—stemmed from the idea of representing the unconscious mind, unburdened by societal norms. Several female surrealist artists and writers did emerge during the movement, including Remedios Varo, a Catalan surrealist painter. Throughout the early stages of her career, Varo was barely recognized by her male surrealist counterparts. Varo’s gender and background influenced her interpretation of femininity. When comparing Varo’s paintings with those of another famous Catalan surrealist, Salvador Dalí, the difference in the representation of women is striking. Unlike Varo, Dalí conformed to the typical depiction of the surrealist women as an object of desire or horror. Dalí’s representation of women is heavily influenced by their roles in society and treatment at the time. On the other hand, Varo broke the mold of the standard surrealist woman and depicted independent women in search of individual identities. Unlike Dalí, Varo ignored the social boundaries that had been set forth and attempted to freely express her unconscious mind, creating empowering surreal images of women.
Recommended Citation
White, Jacquelyn Yvonne, "The Surrealist Woman: the Art of Remedios Varo" (2014). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 744.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/744
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Included in
Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons, Spanish Literature Commons
