Dibujo previo de "El otro reloj" (Preliminary Drawing of "The Other Clock")

This preliminary drawing for Remedios Varo's painting El otro reloj (1957) exemplifies the crucial role that drawing plays in the Spanish artist's oeuvre. Varo began her paintings by creating numerous loosely-rendered graphite studies of the figures, landscapes and buildings, and objects that she would ultimately incorporate into her final compositions. Once settled on the design, Varo produced a clean copy of the drawing, using gridlines to scale it to a larger format. She would then transfer the image onto the final surface-- medium weight cardstock in this case-- using graphite, resulting in rubbing marks covering the figure. Varo's technical precision was, in part, due to her early training by her father Rodrigo, a hydraulic engineer, who taught her the mechanical drawing techniques that she used throughout her career. Between 1955-57, Varo revisited and reworked this figure extensively, with variations appearing in paintings such as El ermitaño (The Hermit) (1955) and El juglar (o el malabarista) (The Juggler [or the Magician]) (1956), and the composition on bone, Carta de tarot (Tarot Card) (1957), among others. Best known for her melding of scientific and occult imagery, Preparatory Study for El otro reloj depicts a pentagram figure holding a double-headed snake which forms a cascading infinity symbol. The painting El otro reloj, roughly translating to "The Other Clock" or "The Other Timepiece" features a cosmic setting and, with its reference to "other" forms of timekeeping, suggests the infinite, unbounded universe of the enlightened mind.