Alice Rahon

Alice Rahon, is a French-born poet and painter who became a naturalised Mexican artist and an important, long-underrecognised figure within Surrealism. After publishing three collections of poetry, Rahon turned to painting in the early 1940s, developing a visual language shaped by mythology, memory, and her profound engagement with prehistoric art. Influenced by the cave paintings of Altamira, the Surrealist circle of Paris, and the Indigenous traditions she encountered after settling in Mexico City, she created works that move between figuration and abstraction, rich with symbols, texture, and ritual.

Working with gouache, ink, sand, volcanic rock, feathers, and sgraffito techniques, Rahon forged an iconography that is both personal and universal, echoing ancient mark-making while remaining rooted in her lived experience. Recognised early in her career, she exhibited widely across Mexico, the United States, and Europe, and her works entered major museum collections including MoMA, LACMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museo de Arte Moderno. Recent retrospectives and international exhibitions have reignited critical attention, reaffirming Rahon’s place within Surrealism and modernism.