On September 18, 2026, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, north of Copenhagen, opens one of the autumn’s most anticipated exhibitions: "Painting Magic," a collection of around seventy works by the Spanish-Mexican surrealist Remedios Varo. After Louisiana, the exhibition will travel on to Moderna Museet in Stockholm – making autumn the perfect time to get to know an artist whose dreamlike, almost alchemical imagery works remarkably well as a poster on a Swedish wall. Varo painted towers, birds, creatures, and machines that seem to wander between fairy tale and science, and it is precisely this blend of mysticism and precision that makes her subjects such appealing wall art. This guide explores who she was, why the exhibition is an event, and how to choose a poster in her spirit for your home.
Quick facts: "Painting Magic" is on view at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk from September 18, 2026, to January 10, 2027, and includes around seventy works: paintings, drawings, and photographs. The exhibition will then travel on to Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Remedios Varo was born in Anglès, Spain, in 1908 and died in Mexico City in 1963. Her best-known painting, "Bordando el manto terrestre" ("Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle," 1961), measures 100 × 123 cm and is even mentioned in Thomas Pynchon’s novel "The Crying of Lot 49."
Who was Remedios Varo – and why is an entire exhibition traveling to the Nordic countries?
Remedios Varo is among the surrealists the world only truly discovered in recent years. For a long time, she stood in the shadow of the men in the movement, despite her distinctive vision. She was born in the Catalan town of Anglès in 1908, studied in Madrid, and left her homeland while still young. In Paris, she was drawn into the surrealists’ circle and spent time with André Breton, Max Ernst, and Salvador Dalí. World War II forced her to flee, and in the early 1940s she settled in Mexico City – it was there, far from the center of Europe, that her art matured and blossomed.
That Louisiana is bringing together around seventy works and then sending them on to Moderna Museet is, in itself, a sign of how quickly her reputation has grown. It also makes autumn 2026 a rare opportunity for Swedish visitors to see the originals up close. We’ve previously written about how surrealism is being shown at Moderna Museet, and Varo belongs squarely in that tradition – but with her own Mexican-influenced tone that sets her apart from the better-known French surrealists.
Imagery: Towers, birds and machines between fairy tale and science
What makes Varo immediately recognizable is her ability to paint the impossible as if it were a technical drawing. In "Bordando el manto terrestre" from 1961, a group of veiled women sit in a tower chamber, embroidering a cloth that, fold by fold, becomes the world outside the windows - seas, houses and land take shape from their hands. In "La Creación de las aves" ("The Creation of the Birds," 1957), an owl-like being paints birds that lift off the paper and fly, while light from a star is directed through a magnifying glass into the paintbrush. The imagery is fantastical, but the execution is restrained and precise, almost scientific.
That combination is also what makes her images such rewarding wall art. A Varo-inspired poster tells a story without shouting - it draws the viewer closer instead of dominating the room from a distance. The muted golden-brown and rusty colors she often worked with also help the motifs blend into modern, warm homes rather than clash with them. Her bird motifs have a special appeal; if that’s what draws you in, you’ll find more options among our botanical posters and in our range of animal prints.
It’s worth taking a closer look at the technique itself, because it explains why her images are so enduring. Varo had a background that gave her an almost engineering-like eye, and she built her compositions with thin, translucent layers of paint and a wealth of detail that can be appreciated again and again. A visitor walking past a Varo at a museum rarely takes it all in at first glance - there’s always a small mechanism, a hidden face or a thread leading somewhere. The same is true at home. A narrative poster of this kind rewards a lingering gaze, and unlike a purely decorative piece, you rarely tire of it, because there’s always something left to discover. That makes it an unusually lasting investment for a wall you pass every day.
Varo shared her world of imagery with her friend Leonora Carrington, another surrealist who also ended up in Mexico, and together they developed a visual language full of magic, alchemy, and female protagonists on a journey. Those drawn to the exhibition will also find an entry point to an entire circle of artists whose work is increasingly in demand. For Swedish homes, the beauty of this genre is that it's easy to use in moderation: a single striking scene goes a long way, and it needs neither a particular style elsewhere in the decor nor a collection around it to work.
"A Varo-inspired poster tells a story without shouting - drawing the viewer closer instead of dominating the room from a distance."
Varo, Kahlo, and the Women Who Rewrote Art History
Varo's return is part of a wider movement. In recent years, the art world has systematically brought attention to women who were long left on the margins - and Varo is one of the clearest examples. Her time in Mexico City coincided with a period when the country was a haven for artists in exile, and she moved in the same circles that championed another Mexican icon. We've written about how Frida Kahlo is celebrated at Tate Modern in 2026, and the two artists share more than geography: both turned the personal and inner world into visual art, and both have become far more prominent after their deaths than they were during their lifetimes.
Where Kahlo turned her gaze inward, toward her own body, Varo turned hers outward, toward the cosmos, alchemy, and creation. Together, they remind us how much of 20th-century art history was written by women whose names are only now being given their rightful place. Stepping into a Varo exhibition in 2026 is therefore not just an aesthetic pleasure but also a small historical correction - and hanging her world of imagery at home is a way of making that correction part of everyday life. You can find more of these rediscovered masters in our collection of artworks by famous artists.
Tips: Surrealist imagery needs a little distance to reveal its details. If you hang a narrative poster in the bedroom or reading nook, place it where your gaze settles when you sit still for a while - beside the headboard or opposite the armchair - rather than in a passageway where people simply hurry by. That gives the little scenes in the image time to do their work.
How to choose a poster in Varo’s style for your home
If you want to bring the atmosphere of "Painting Magic" into your home without searching for an exact reproduction, think about three things. First, the color palette: Varo’s earthy, golden-brown palette suits the warm hues of fall interiors and makes even a dreamlike image feel calming. Second, the story – choose an image where something is actually happening, a scene with a creature, a bird or a journey, rather than a purely decorative one. Third, the format. Surrealist images benefit from having room to breathe; a 50x70 or larger lets the details come to life, while a small print risks stifling the story.
Placement determines everything else. Above a sofa or bed, a single larger image becomes a focal point, and a darker frame enhances surrealism’s enclosed, theatrical quality. In a reading nook or study, you could instead hang two or three smaller scenes as a small series, letting the eye wander between them. Avoid mixing too many different stories on the same wall – surrealism can quickly feel cluttered if every image pulls in a different direction. Let one powerful scene take center stage instead, with calmer images around it. If you need a foundation for arranging a wall piece by piece, we’ve put it together in our guide to gallery walls. You’ll find more dreamy and imaginative designs among our illustration posters.
One final thought about lighting, since it matters more for this kind of subject than you might think. Varo’s images often revolve around an inner light – a star, a flame, a beam passing through glass – and look their best when hung where daylight falls softly or where a warm lamp can bring out the details in the evening. Avoid harsh, cool lighting directly from the front, which flattens the delicate layers of color. A warm, directional light source placed slightly to one side, on the other hand, adds depth to the scene and keeps the small magic in the image alive long after the exhibition has closed.
Frequently asked questions about Remedios Varo and the 2026 exhibition
Fall 2026 offers a rare opportunity to get to know an artist the art world has only recently rediscovered – first at Louisiana, then at Moderna Museet. If you’d like to bring home something from Varo’s dreamlike, golden-brown world of imagery, start with our illustration posters and let a single narrative image take center stage on your wall. Sometimes one poster is enough to make an entire exhibition part of everyday life.
Sources: ARTnews on Louisiana’s Remedios Varo exhibition and The Metropolitan Museum of Art on "Bordando el manto terrestre".