The Juggler (the Magician)

Remedios Varo, 1956

Alright, so, Remedios Varo wrote notes about her own paintings. In the note for this one, she says the guy in the hat… “is full of tricks.” Then she gives you a little tour. So… might as well take it. He’s got all his tools around him on his cart. And the animals stand for the four elements. There’s an owl on the chair. A goat in the window. A lion on the floor. Doves up on the roof. You can probably guess which one’s fire. The green bottles are potions. And there are dried herbs by the flask. Okay, now look at his face. The hat on top, the beard below. Together, they make a five-pointed star. And the face itself is painted on a sliver of mother-of-pearl. About a millimeter thick, set into the board. She did that in only five paintings. Then there’s the crowd. She says one cloak joins them all. Twenty-one people in one piece of gray cloth. Same hair, too. Now, one to find on your own. Look at the window next to the goat. There’s a woman in blue, eyes closed. Some people have wondered if that’s Varo herself. She painted this in Mexico City. Civil war got her out of Spain. The Germans got her out of Paris, where she’d been running with the Surrealists. A boat got her the rest of the way. In Mexico, she fixed old pottery for money. Didn’t start painting full-time until her mid-forties. And around the time she painted this, she had her first solo show. Crowds came. There was a waiting list. Check the crowd’s eyes. Some are on him. Some are on you.

▶ Listen on Listen to Frank

More from Frank