La Creación de las Aves (The Creation of Birds) by Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter Remedios Varo is delightfully strange, fantastically whimsical, and wildly creative. It’s alchemy, science, and dreams.

Varo combined traditional techniques, surrealism, and visionary landscapes to build a magical world. In La Creación de las Aves, one of her most famous paintings, she used these techniques to create a magnificent scene: a mysterious alchemical lab, a young, genderless owl-like creature (una lechuza) sitting at a tiny desk bringing to life delicate little birds with the light energy of a faraway star, only to see them fly away.

A nearby machine looks insect-like, its tentacle-like hand depositing paint onto a palette. The creature is endearing and noble – especially in the tilt of the feathered head and the downcast eyes.

“The dream world and the real world are the same,” Varo said in an interview. The tone of the painting is somewhat religious; some compare it to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. There certainly is a fantastic, spiritual energy to the painting – the ethos of creation by the bird-like creature.

(https://nuestrostories.com/2023/02/taking-a-closer-look-at-remedios-varos-la-creacion-de-las-aves/#:~:text=La%20Creaci%C3%B3n%20de%20las%20Aves%20(The%20Creation%20of%20Birds)%20by,to%20build%20a%20magical%20world.)