Enrique Chavarria Figurative Paintings

The Island Woman (La Mujer Isla) Artist signed and titled. Enrique Chavarría (1927-1998) was a Mexican painter and neo-surrealist, whose fantastic imagery carries forward the work of the Mexican Surrealists. He created hundreds of easel-sized oil paintings on masonite and numerous smaller works. For four decades his principal patron was Bryna Prensky, an American gallery owner from Florida who moved to Mexico City in 1954. She bought most of Chavarría’s known works for her gallery and her own collection. Prensky said she often found Chavarría in his pajamas at mid-day. He read widely and painted dreamlike images that reflect his wide-ranging scholarly interests. Much of his work is thought to have been inspired by poetry, especially the writings of André Breton, Paul Éluard, Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Valéry; by the classic surrealism of Salvador Dalí; and by the paintings of Mexican neo-surrealist artists Remedios Varo...