In the book "Traveler's Tales, Mexico", we are told that Andre Breton, the founder of French Surrealism, said of Mexico "There is no need for our art movement in this country. Surrealism is a way of life here." A variation of this quote is attributed to Salvador Dali, "I won't be in a country that is more surreal than my paintings". Whoever said it, we can all agree; Mexico defies reason.
Andre Breton with Marxist Leon Trotsky and Muralist Diego Rivera in Mexico
Mexico is an irrational country, composed of disparate and unexpected elements, visions and sounds that clash and then resonate, that make us uneasy, that exhilarate, that make us wish we had been born here but grateful at least to live and die here. It is a man drinking down the moth larva floating in his mescal while his toddler, perched lovingly on his knee, snacks on sugar candy coffins. It is boisterous laughter at a funeral.
En Suenos. In dreams.
The divide between reality and dreams in Mexico has only widened since the late '30's when Breton returned to France. Mexico had taught him all she could but now there is so much more in Wonderland to trick the eye and send the mind reeling.
Carolyn in Mexico
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