I’m so happy to be back and to be able to publish 7 articles over 7 days. I know September can be a month full of changes, new beginnings, and getting back into the routine for many of us, so I hope these little articles about art can make your day feel a bit more interesting, inspiring, or simply more enjoyable.

My hope is that, throughout these 7 days, you’ll discover things about art you didn’t know, little stories nobody had told you before, and details hidden behind artworks, artists and their stories.

As always, thank you so much for being here and reading.

With that said… let’s get started with the first one!

4 Artists Who Never Existed

One of the things I find most fascinating about the art world is how much we rely on context. We see a painting in a gallery, read the artist’s name, learn a little about their story, and suddenly the work can feel completely different.

But what happens when the artist, their biography, their reputation — or even their entire existence — is a lie?

Nat Tate

In 1998, the art world was introduced to Nat Tate, supposedly an American Abstract Expressionist painter who had lived in New York during the 1950s.

According to his biography, Nathwell “Nat” Tate (1928–1960) was a talented but deeply troubled artist. He was supposedly part of the New York School and a respected figure among artists of his generation, with connections to names such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

He was portrayed as the perfect image of the tortured artist: talented, insecure, alcoholic and misunderstood.

One of the recurring subjects in Tate’s work was bridges, allegedly inspired by American poet Hart Crane and his famous poem The Bridge. According to the story, Tate travelled to Europe in 1959 and was overwhelmed by the quality of the European art he encountered. When he returned to New York, he supposedly became convinced that he was a fraud.

He destroyed almost all of his work — around 99% of it — before eventually taking his own life on January 12, 1960, by jumping from the Staten Island Ferry.

It sounds like the perfect tragic artist story.

Except that none of it was true. Nat Tate was completely fictional.

The artist was invented by British novelist William Boyd as an elaborate literary and artistic hoax. The name itself contained a little clue: “Nat Tate” is a playful combination of the National Gallery and the Tate galleries.

Boyd created several of the surviving artworks himself. He also used photographs of unidentified people from his own collection to create the illusion that Tate had really existed.

The deception went remarkably far. David Bowie, who was involved with Modern Painters magazine at the time, participated in the project, and Gore Vidal contributed a text that helped give the fictional artist an even greater sense of legitimacy. The launch of the book took place in New York in 1998.

And then, years later, the story became even stranger. In 2011, one of the supposed surviving works, Bridge No. 114, was actually offered at Sotheby’s.

It sold for £7,250, considerably above its top estimate. The proceeds went to the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, a charity supporting artists in financial difficulty.

Imagine bidding thousands of pounds on a painting by an artist who never existed….

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Jusep Torres Campalans

Our second fictional artist takes us into the world of Picasso, Cubism and the Parisian avant-garde.

According to the story, Jusep Torres Campalans (1886–1957) was a Catalan painter who moved to Paris during the early years of the avant-garde. There, he supposedly became friends with artists including Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani and Piet Mondrian and became an important — although largely forgotten — figure in the development of Cubism.

He was supposedly the great missing link between Picasso and Georges Braque: the mysterious third Cubist master whose name had somehow disappeared from art history.

Campalans was described as deeply Catalan, anti-bourgeois and anarchist, while also being a devout Catholic. He supposedly dressed like a working-class man and spent his nights immersed in the chaotic Parisian nightlife of the avant-garde.

His relationship with Picasso was particularly important to the story. The two supposedly knew each other from Barcelona, and Picasso even appeared in portraits painted by Campalans.

Campalans supposedly worked intensely for several years before suddenly abandoning painting around the beginning of the First World War. He eventually disappeared to Chiapas, Mexico, where he supposedly lived as a recluse. The story was incredibly convincing because it wasn’t presented simply as fiction.

The person behind it was Spanish writer Max Aub, who published Jusep Torres Campalans in 1958. Aub created an entire fictional biography complete with photographs, reproductions of paintings, testimonies, catalogues and supposed historical documents. Some of the photographs were even photomontages, placing the fictional artist alongside real people.

The book was so carefully constructed that it blurred the line between novel, biography and art history.

And that was precisely the point. Aub wasn’t simply inventing an artist. He was experimenting with the way we decide what is true. Interestingly, the book itself became an important cultural object. It was published in Mexico in 1958, and its English edition was later promoted alongside an exhibition displaying the supposed Campalans paintings in New York.

Today, Jusep Torres Campalans is considered much more than a simple prank. Scholars have studied it as a sophisticated reflection on authorship, authenticity, art criticism and the way cultural institutions create artistic reputations.

Pierre Brassau

Now things get even stranger.

In February 1964, an exhibition opened in Gothenburg, Sweden, featuring four paintings by a supposedly unknown French avant-garde artist named Pierre Brassau.

The paintings attracted attention almost immediately. Critics praised them. Journalists wrote about them. Students of art were fascinated by this mysterious new talent.

One critic, Rolf Anderberg, described Brassau’s paintings:

There was just one tiny problem.

Pierre Brassau wasn’t French nor human.

Pierre Brassau was actually the artistic name given to a four-year-old chimpanzee named Peter.

The entire thing had been organised by Swedish journalist Åke “Dacke” Axelsson, who wanted to test something that still feels surprisingly relevant today:

Axelsson convinced Peter’s keeper to give the chimpanzee brushes and paint. Peter eventually produced several paintings, and Axelsson selected four of them for the exhibition.

Some critics praised the paintings as serious examples of modern art.

And when the truth was finally revealed, critic Rolf Anderberg apparently refused to completely back down. He continued to maintain that Peter’s work was among the strongest in the exhibition.

One painting was even purchased by a private collector.

Peter himself had no idea that he had become part of an art-world experiment. He later lived at Chester Zoo in England, where he remained until his death.

The story became famous because it exposed one of the uncomfortable questions surrounding modern art:

How much of what we see in a painting comes from the artwork itself — and how much comes from what we’re told about it?

Joachim-Raphaël Boronali

And finally, we have Joachim-Raphaël Boronali, supposedly a mysterious Italian Futurist and the founder of an entirely new artistic movement called Excessivism.

The movement lasted for approximately… a few days.

Boronali supposedly frequented the legendary Parisian cabaret Lapin Agile in Montmartre and wrote an outrageous manifesto demanding that artists destroy museums and reject the boring conventions of traditional art.

Then came his masterpiece:

Et le soleil s’endormit sur l’Adriatique — And the Sun Fell Asleep Over the Adriatic.

The painting appeared in Paris in 1910 and immediately attracted attention. Critics praised its unusual perspective, its colour and its expressive brushwork. It was even exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, alongside works by artists such as Henri Matisse and Henri Rousseau.

Some critics were genuinely impressed.

The painting was eventually sold for 400 francs, which was a significant amount of money at the time.

Everyone wanted to know: Who was Boronali?

The answer was waiting in the wings. The artist was not a mysterious Italian Futurist. It was a donkey named Lolo.

The whole thing had been organised by French writer and journalist Roland Dorgelès, who wanted to make fun of the Parisian avant-garde and its increasingly dramatic claims about what could — and could not — be considered art.

Dorgelès, together with several friends and the owner of the Lapin Agile, attached a paintbrush to Lolo’s tail.

They placed the animal in front of a canvas, gave him access to several colours and let him move around.

The result became Et le soleil s’endormit sur l’Adriatique.

To make the joke even more convincing, Dorgelès had a notary present to officially document the experiment.

Then came the newspaper reveal.

Dorgelès announced that the mysterious Boronali was actually a donkey.

The reaction was exactly what he had hoped for: outrage, disbelief and, eventually, embarrassment. But the story didn’t end there. The painting continued to have a life of its own even after the hoax was exposed.

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We are experiencing fragility—so often ignored—at levels that would have been unimaginable just a year ago. Everywhere, there seems to be an overwhelming sense of bewilderment, and perhaps many of us, deep down, feel more alone and helpless than ever.

When I look around me, in the midst of this labyrinth from which we seem unable to find a way out, I feel that the perfect time has come to get rid of the mask we wear. It is time to extend our hands and show ourselves as we truly are, because, contrary to what we may think, doing so will not make us more vulnerable, but rather bring us greater inner clarity. Of that, I am certain.

Most of us take pride in our self-sufficiency. We like being responsible; we like taking care of ourselves because it is a way of feeling safe and strong in the face of the world. That is why it can be so challenging when we find ourselves in a situation where we have to depend on other people.

It can happen to anyone, as a result of an illness or even because of a positive change, such as the arrival of a newborn. Whatever the circumstances, in those moments it is essential that we stop feeling as though we should be able to do everything on our own and become capable of accepting help from others.

The first step is to surrender fully to the situation, exactly as it is. Too often, we make things worse, either by trying to do more than we should or by falling into feelings of worthlessness. In both cases, we run the risk of prolonging our dependence.

Generally, the ego begins by resisting, but the moment we manage to move toward acceptance, we begin to enter one of the soul’s deepest realms.

When we allow ourselves to be helped without reservation, we experience the profound realization that we are not alone in this world. While this may bring our vulnerability to the surface, it also gives us the opportunity to connect with a deep sense of gratitude as we open ourselves to the experience of receiving help. If we shift our perspective and live through these moments with humility and an acknowledgment of our more sensitive humanity, we can understand how important it is to be of service when our help becomes necessary to others.

It takes wisdom and strength to surrender to our own powerlessness and accept that, like everyone else, we have limitations. Life places us in these situations to offer us a deeper perspective, an opening toward an ever-deepening understanding of the human experience that may, in turn, allow us to be more compassionate and devoted to the people around us.

And it is not true that such an experience makes us weaker. As I have said, it takes tremendous inner strength to acknowledge our fragility before the world. And that, in addition to connecting us deeply with others, gives rise to feelings of genuine compassion—feelings capable of changing everything.

So, when you need it, ask for help. Let yourself be cared for, let yourself be loved, stay close to those who make you feel good. Letting go of control is comforting; it can become something tremendously pleasurable. And besides, who knows…? Perhaps you will eventually realize that it really is true: you don’t have to do it all on your own.

Can you imagine what would happen if we became accustomed to taking care of one another and working together, for the sake of everyone?

It’s simply a thought I’m putting out there…

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It is even possible that on that day you will perceive your wrinkles, your dark circles, or your blemishes as part of a process of infinite learning that is possible thanks to your body, and it is also possible that, from that moment on, you will become much more aware of the importance of taking care of it, listening to it, not pushing it too hard, nor neglecting it.

We need to know and listen to our own body, because that gives us a measure of the respect and love we feel for ourselves, something that is part of the process of the evolution of our consciousness.

It is important to pay attention to the idea that the human body is an essential vehicle in our development and evolution in this world, since it allows us to be in contact with everything around us in a clear and direct way, thanks to sensory experiences and the ability to feel emotions, which, ultimately, give us information, teach us, educate us, and refine our sensitivity.

In another respect, it is worth remembering that the idea, the curious restlessness that can lead us to become aware of reality and of the importance of our life, is self-inquiry, self-knowledge. Knowing that we need ourselves, that we are our own best friend, that possibly no one will understand us with the depth with which we can do so ourselves, and that there is no one who can occupy that intimate and profound space where only silence and peace dwell. And another important thing: that no one who does not live in this way will be able to accompany us on our journey or understand our processes.

Sometimes it is necessary to carry out a deep mental reset and change our way of thinking in order to know that our body matters and that our life matters, that we matter, because, countless times, over the years, it is tremendously easy for us to fall into the illusion of our own insignificance.

We can see large companies or institutions, celebrities or successful professionals in our community and compare ourselves with them, thinking that their fame or material power reaffirms how little our lives matter, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Each and every one of us is indispensable. Our own existence affects countless people in countless ways and, as each one of us is essentially a microcosm of a greater Universe, our inner experiences affect the whole of life more than we could imagine. The world simply could not exist as it does now if you, or any of us, were not in it, with all that this implies.

Perhaps you consciously feel that, at some level, your life does not matter. Even that, in reality, you do not even matter to yourself. If this thought resonates within you, perhaps it is time to explore why you feel this way.

It is possible that as a child you formed beliefs of rejection or self-deprecation in order to keep yourself safe or to help you make sense of confusing situations. You may have felt ignored, unfairly judged, or unheard, and decided that there was something wrong with you, without being aware that, possibly, the problem was the low capacity for attention of the people around you.

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Spending some time investigating where those feelings of insignificance took root and checking what changes you can make in your life and in your heart can alleviate and dissolve all those harmful influences from your past. Keep in mind that these false beliefs could be limiting you and affecting your life enormously and that when you change those perceptions around your own ability to influence your life and the world, you may discover wonderful parts of yourself that you had forgotten long ago. There may even be new and exciting parts that you did not even know existed, because by becoming aware of how much your life matters, your sense of connection with everything will be renewed.

Remind yourself daily that your contribution is absolutely necessary for the world and that the best way to stand out is to begin by satisfying your own spiritual, physical, and intellectual needs.

Within each one of us, there is a reserve of energy that must be replenished regularly. When we act as if it had no limit, scheduling a long list of activities that fit together like puzzle pieces into every minute of every day, that energy runs out and we feel tired, disconnected, and weak.

Keeping that reserve at acceptable levels involves finding time to focus, nourish, and take care of ourselves. Some people will inevitably consider that “time for yourself” is selfish, but, in reality, it is the exact opposite of selfishness, because we can only excel in the affairs of the outside world when our own needs are satisfied.

However, recognizing the importance of giving yourself time is much easier than finding a place for it in an active and multifaceted lifestyle. Even if you are able to make room for it in your schedule, you may feel frustrated when you discover that your thoughts continually drift toward other matters and you make excuses to deny yourself those much-needed spaces.

To make the most of “your” moments, think about how you would like to spend them, forgetting obligations and embracing the idea of renewal, rebalancing, and rest. You may discover that creative activities, guided meditation, relaxing activities during which your mind can wander, or forms of expression such as writing, fill you with energy.

Even if you have achieved a functional balance between work and personal life, you may still be neglecting the most important part of that equation: YOU. Therefore, consider that these moments of recharging prepare you for the following day, whether you are focused on a professional project or household tasks. They also offer you a unique opportunity to get to know yourself, your needs, and your tolerances in a concrete way. Despite how unimportant “time for yourself” may sometimes seem, it is truly crucial to your well-being, because it ensures that you never run out of energy to continue giving of yourself and offering your best to the world without losing even an ounce of your inner peace.

If we want to have true peace, despite the turbulent world in which we currently live, we must first find it within our most intimate and profound being.

I think most people would agree that a more peaceful world would be an ideal situation for all living beings. However, it often seems that we do not know how to make this situation a reality and we fail to see that if we want true peace to reign and govern this planet, each one of us must find a way to be at peace internally and with our surroundings.

If we do not like ourselves, for example, we probably will not like those around us. If we are in a constant state of inner conflict, conflict will manifest around us. We must shine the light of inquiry on our inner struggles, because this is the only place where we can truly create change.

When we begin the process of searching within ourselves for the meaning of peace, we will be able to understand why it has always been so difficult to achieve it. Wars always begin within, generally in our minds, which keep us entangled in destructive thoughts, self-devaluation, and suffering.

Extrapolating this idea to the rest of the people around us and realizing that almost the same things distress us may allow us to be more compassionate toward the attitudes of those who are trapped in both personal and universal conflicts.

We can have an experience of peace and invoke it internally to remember what we want to create, but, because we are human, we will also be drawn in the opposite direction: the desire to defend ourselves, to preserve what we believe belongs to us, to protect our loved ones and our cherished ideals, and the anger we feel when we are threatened. This awareness is important because we cannot truly know peace until we understand the numerous tendencies and passions that threaten our ability to find it. Peace necessarily includes, even as it transcends, all of our primary energy, much of which has been expressed in ways that contradict the concept of peace itself.

Being internally at peace does not mean denying or rejecting any part of ourselves. On the contrary, to be at peace we must be willing and able to hold ourselves in all our complexity, in a complete embrace that excludes nothing. This is perhaps the most difficult part for many, because we reject and wish to disown the negative aspects of our humanity and are not aware, ironically, that true peace begins with the willingness to take responsibility for that humanity, responsibility for our light, but also for our shadow aspects, so that we can finally transform that darkness into something beautiful through understanding, gratitude, and love for ourselves.

In my case, the concept of Self-Love includes listening to my deductions, logical to me and possibly incomprehensibly illogical to others, to my thoughts, even when mistaken, to my most complex emotions… It also includes contemplating my failures, my flaws, and my darkness… and despite being able to weigh the seriousness or lightness of all this, showing myself compassion and love toward myself and treating myself with the tenderness I need and deserve, which is what supports me so that the light that I know reigns in my soul can filter more and more continuously into those aspects of my humanity that need review and rectification on my part. This is why I defend the idea that everything begins with me, from me toward the outside.

These reflections help me become aware of the importance of giving myself a primary place in my life, limiting the influence of others, not accepting what I do not want, and peacefully defending myself from what I know does not do me good.

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thank you for reading! I hope this finds you well.

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When we talk about Russia, we must not forget that the culture that in Europe was built through a long process lasting centuries was born, evolved and became established there as a world reference in little more than a century. Gender musicology, however, has had little impact on the field of Slavic studies —mainly concerned with the phenomena of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich—, and there is therefore still a long way to go in research into the role of women in the Russian cultural renaissance. For example, it is worth knowing that it was thanks to three great empresses —Anna of Russia, Elizabeth I of Russia and Catherine the Great— that Western classical music was established in the empire as an essential artistic discipline in court life, as they promoted the introduction of Italian opera into their territories, supported Russian composers who wished to learn Western music, etc.

Russia first consolidated its status as a cultural power in almost domestic settings —private salons— as well as in the public spaces of the court and theatre, and it was precisely there that women played a crucial role in this process. Nevertheless, the number of female composers of the period is low, something that possibly responds to these two reasons: firstly, women were forbidden from pursuing a professional career or anything that involved going on stage; secondly, despite the fact that these empresses invited great artists to Russia, such as the painter Elisabeth Vigée le Brun and Madame de Stäel, in Western Europe women also rarely developed careers as composers and, those who did, had few previous role models.

Nocturne in A-Flat Major (by her)

However, this does not mean, of course, that there were no female composers in Russia. Maria Agata Szymanowska (née Wołowska) was born in Warsaw on December 14, 1789, into a wealthy family of Jewish origin that had converted to Catholicism. Her mother belonged to a Polish noble family and her father was a landowner and owner of a brewery: before the annexation of Poland to the Russian Empire, it served as a secret meeting place for Polish patriots and regularly welcomed Europe’s cultural and intellectual elite —especially those who looked favorably upon France.

Nocture in B flat Major (by her)

The family’s financial position allowed Maria access to an excellent education: from the age of eight, she received lessons in Polish and French, as well as classes in geography and piano —her teachers were Antoni Lisowski and Tomasz Gremm. Having shown clear abilities at the instrument, Maria also received composition lessons from Józef Elsner and Karol Kurpiński. From 1805-1806, in the midst of her adolescence, the young pianist was already part of Warsaw’s most important musical circles and was known in all its salons, so she was sent to Paris to continue her education: there she had the opportunity to display her talent before several important personalities such as Cherubini, who dedicated his Fantasy in C to her as a sign of admiration.

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Maria married Jozef Szymanowski upon her return from France: in 1811 her first two children —twins— were born, and in 1812, her last daughter. In 1815, the pianist, at the age of 26, embarked on her first concert tour, which led to many more until 1820: it began with private concerts in Poland, but, as her fame grew, she eventually travelled through Dresden, Vienna, London, Saint Petersburg and Berlin, thus becoming one of the first professional virtuosos of the 19th century and one of the first pianists to perform works from memory before the public —before Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann. However, Maria faced opposition from her husband and her family, who did not approve of her pursuing her profession, going against all the rules of propriety that governed a respectable family —when she went on tour, nevertheless, she took two of her brothers and a brother as escorts. This opposition eventually ended with the couple’s divorce, and their three children remained in the pianist’s custody.

Maria Agata Szymanowska was not only recognized as a brilliant pianist, but also as a great composer: by 1816 she had already published some of her songs and, in 1820, Breitkopf & Härtel, the oldest music publishing house in Germany, began publishing her music. The style of her compositions, pre-Romantic and sentimental, is a clear precursor to Chopin’s music: the artist mainly wrote works for piano, some of them with vocal accompaniment and texts by Shakespeare and Pushkin (father). Her output also includes chamber music —for piano and cello or violin— and choral music. Maria Agata Szymanowska composed around one hundred works.

In 1822, Maria Agata Szymanowska was appointed first pianist at the court of Tsarina Charlotte of Prussia —Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I of Russia—. The composer was in contact with the great personalities of the artistic circles of her time: Goethe, Hummel and Rossini were some of her admirers and, at her last concert in Warsaw, in 1827, a young Chopin, whose musical language is imbued with the influence of Maria Agata Szymanowska’s style, was among her captivated audience. That same year, the pianist settled permanently in Saint Petersburg, where she divided her time between piano lessons, concerts, composition and the education of her daughters. Her salon was, incidentally, one of the most frequented by the cosmopolitan elite of the Russian capital, which allowed her to increase her social status as a court musician.

Maria Agata Szymanowska died suddenly on July 25, 1831, at the height of her fame, during a cholera epidemic that affected the entire city of Saint Petersburg in the summer of that same year.

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“We are the most intellectual species to walk the planet, but we are not intelligent. If you’re intelligent, you don’t destroy your only home.”

Before she became a world-famous animal lover, Jane Goodall was just a little girl who couldn’t stop asking questions.

Born in London on April 3, 1934, and raised in Bournemouth, on England’s southern coast, Jane was fascinated by animals from the very beginning. She wasn’t the kind of child who was happy simply watching them. She wanted to know what they were doing, where they were going and, most importantly, why.

When she was only four years old, that curiosity got her into a little trouble.

Jane desperately wanted to discover where a hen’s eggs actually came from. So, instead of asking an adult, she disappeared into a chicken coop and stayed there for hours, carefully watching the hens. Her family became so worried that they called the police.

But when Jane finally appeared, her mother didn’t punish her. She listened. Jane was bursting with excitement about what she had discovered, and her mother understood something important: this wasn’t mischief. It was curiosity.

That same curiosity would eventually take Jane much further than a chicken coop.

A Dream Called Africa

As a child, Jane loved animal stories, especially The Jungle Book. By the age of ten, she had already decided what she wanted to do with her life: go to Africa, live among wild animals and write about them.

It sounded like a wild dream for a young girl growing up in England.

But Jane’s mother never told her that it was impossible. Instead, she encouraged her to work hard, take every opportunity and never give up on something she truly wanted.

In 1957, at the age of 23, she finally got the chance to travel to Africa. There was just one small problem: she didn’t have enough money for the trip. So Jane worked as a waitress and saved until she could afford the journey.

And then, finally, she went.

Africa was no longer a dream. It was real.

The Meeting That Changed Everything

While in Kenya, Jane met the famous anthropologist Louis Leakey. He quickly noticed that she had a remarkable ability to observe animals and an unusual amount of patience.

Although Jane didn’t have a university degree, Leakey hired her as his assistant. He even took her to Olduvai Gorge, where he and his wife, archaeologist Mary Leakey, were searching for fossils.

But Leakey had a different idea for Jane.

He believed she could do something extraordinary: study chimpanzees in the wild.

So, in July 1960, Jane travelled to what is now Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.

She was young, inexperienced and entering a world completely unfamiliar to her. And, as you might expect, the chimpanzees weren’t exactly waiting to welcome her.

At first, they ran away. Jane didn’t chase them. She simply waited.

Day after day, she watched from a distance. Slowly, the chimpanzees became less afraid of her. Eventually, they allowed her closer. And that patience paid off.

The Discovery

One day, Jane noticed something incredible.

She saw a chimpanzee using a blade of grass to pull termites out of their nest. The animal wasn’t simply picking something up—it was using it as a tool.

Today, that might not sound revolutionary. Back then, it was huge.

Many people believed that making and using tools was something that separated humans from other animals. Jane’s discovery challenged that idea and changed the way scientists thought about chimpanzees—and about ourselves.

But perhaps even more fascinating were the personalities she discovered behind the scientific observations.

Jane gave the chimpanzees names and began to recognize their individual characters. Some were gentle, others aggressive. Some were playful, curious, jealous or protective. They formed friendships, cared for their young and developed complicated relationships within their groups.

The forest wasn’t simply full of animals.

It was full of personalities.

Jane’s Unusual Way of Seeing Animals

Jane wasn’t interested in treating chimpanzees as numbers on a page. She wanted to understand them as individuals.

Her observations revealed that chimpanzees were much more complex than many people had imagined. They could hunt, share food, care for one another and learn behaviors from other members of their group.

Even more importantly, some of these behaviors were passed from one generation to the next.

In other words, chimpanzees had their own traditions.

Jane’s work slowly changed the way people looked at our closest animal relatives. And it also made us ask a rather uncomfortable question:

How different are we from them, really?

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Worldwide

Jane eventually became much more than a researcher.

In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, dedicated to protecting chimpanzees, preserving their natural habitats and helping communities live alongside wildlife.

By the late 1980s, she had stepped away from spending most of her time doing fieldwork. But she didn’t retire.

Instead, she took her message to the rest of the world.

She began travelling constantly, giving talks and speaking about animals, forests, climate change and the destruction of nature. She also became a passionate campaigner against the illegal wildlife trade and the mistreatment of animals.

Her life had moved from quietly watching chimpanzees in the forest to speaking to audiences around the world.

The message, however, remained the same:

If we want to protect animals, we also have to protect the world they call home.

Why Jane’s Story Still Matters

Chimpanzees and other great apes face enormous challenges. Their forests are disappearing, they are hunted and captured, and human expansion continues to put pressure on their natural habitats.

For Jane, protecting them was never simply about saving one species.

It was about understanding our connection with nature.

Her work showed that animals aren’t empty creatures acting only on instinct. They can have relationships, emotions, memories and remarkably complex social lives.

And perhaps that’s why Jane’s story feels so personal.

When you watch a chimpanzee caring for its baby, playing with another member of its group or learning something from an older animal, the distance between “us” and “them” suddenly seems much smaller.

A Life Built on Curiosity

Jane Goodall has written books, appeared in documentaries and inspired generations of people to care about wildlife. She has received countless awards and honorary degrees and was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

But medals and titles don’t really explain why her story has become so powerful.

Maybe it’s because everything began with a little girl who simply wanted to know how a hen laid an egg.

She never stopped asking questions.

She followed that curiosity from a chicken coop in England to the forests of Tanzania—and eventually around the world.

Jane Goodall’s life is a reminder that you don’t always need to know exactly where a dream will take you. Sometimes you just need enough courage to take the first step.

And, perhaps, enough curiosity to keep asking:

“What if?”

Because sometimes, one question really can change everything.

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Thank you!

So, what dream are you ready to follow?

At some point, listening to everything at double speed started to feel like a productivity achievement. There is always something else waiting to be consumed: another podcast, another video, another book, another article, another episode. The list never seems to end. You finish one thing and three more appear. You catch up on your YouTube feed and the algorithm has already filled it again. There is always more information waiting for you, and without realizing it, you can start feeling as though you are constantly falling behind.

That feeling creates this strange pressure to optimize everything. We speed things up, skip introductions, jump over the slower parts.... But eventually, consuming content starts to feel less like learning and more like trying to keep up with an endless treadmill. You are constantly moving, but you are not necessarily going anywhere. The goal becomes getting through more rather than getting something meaningful from what you are consuming.

For me, the biggest realization was that consuming more information doesn’t automatically mean learning more. When I listen to something at its natural speed, I have time to actually hear what is being said. I notice the pauses, the changes in someone’s voice, the way they build an idea, and the little moments where I might need a second to process what I’ve just heard. A conversation isn’t only made of words. The rhythm, silence, tone, and pauses are part of the communication too. When you speed everything up, you may still receive the information, but you lose some of the experience surrounding it.

Our brain needs space. We are constantly surrounded by information. We listen to something while walking or watch something while eating. We rarely allow ourselves to simply be somewhere without consuming anything.

I think we’ve become so uncomfortable with boredom that we treat it like a problem that needs to be fixed. But boredom isn’t necessarily something negative. Sometimes it is simply the moment when your own mind finally gets a chance to speak.

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You can watch dozens of videos and still feel like you haven’t really learned anything. The information passed through you, but it didn’t necessarily stay with you.

That’s why I eventually made a simple rule for myself: if something isn’t worth consuming at 1x, it probably isn’t worth consuming at all. The rule isn’t about saying that every podcast, book, or video has to be profound. Sometimes I consume something simply because it’s entertaining, and that’s completely fine. But I don’t want to consume something just because it’s available. If a podcast contains so much filler that I need to listen at double speed just to tolerate it, maybe the problem isn’t the speed. Maybe the problem is that I don’t actually need to listen to it.

This has made me much more selective about what I give my attention to. I don’t feel the same need to finish every book I start or watch every video that appears in my recommendations. I can close a video halfway through if I realize it isn’t giving me anything. I can choose one interesting conversation instead of five mediocre ones. In a strange way, slowing down has actually made me more intentional with my time, because I’m no longer trying to convince myself that everything is worth consuming simply because I can consume it quickly.

I started enjoying things more. When I’m not constantly thinking about getting to the next episode or finishing the next piece of content, I can actually be present with what I’m listening to.

Maybe we’ve become too focused on optimizing our time and forgotten that the purpose of life isn’t to fit as much as possible into every available minute. Real life doesn’t have a playback speed button. Conversations happen at 1x. Walks happen at 1x. Meals happen at 1x. Relationships happen at 1x. You can’t fast-forward through the slow parts of life without also missing some of what makes those experiences meaningful. There are things that simply need to unfold in their own time, and trying to rush through them doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere faster.

So if you ever feel like you’re constantly behind, constantly consuming, and constantly trying to catch up with everything you might be missing, maybe try slowing down for a while. Put everything back to 1x. Choose fewer things and give them your full attention. Let yourself experience a little boredom. Leave some things unfinished. You might end up consuming less, but you may also remember more, think more clearly, and actually enjoy the things you choose to spend your time on.

Because perhaps the goal was never to consume as much as possible. Maybe the goal is to make sure that what we do choose to consume is actually worth our time.

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We offer patience to the world, and irritation to those who raised us. Somewhere along the way, our parents stop being people and become assumptions. Always there. Always forgiving. Always waiting.

We overlook the value of our mothers not because they are unworthy, but because their love feels unconditional. We mistake unconditional love for endless love.

We mistreat siblings not out of hatred, but because familiarity dulls reverence. We forget that shared blood does not mean shared healing.

Perhaps we take family for granted because they reflect us too closely.

They carry our past, our patterns, our unfinished stories. And facing them means facing ourselves.

But love that is not tended quietly erodes. Presence thins. Conversations become functional. Connection becomes optional.

So, please tell your loved ones that you love them. Make time for them. Listen to them. Don’t rush through life or walk away when things get difficult. Take the time to talk, understand each other, and truly be there for one another.

Maybe growth begins when we remember this:

The relationships that shaped us also deserve our effort, our listening, our respect. Before time teaches us the value we refused to see.

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Thank you for reading. I hope this meant something for you.

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I told myself that this constant analysis meant I was searching for truth. I thought that if I examined something deeply enough, I would eventually reach some kind of meaningful answer. But in reality, I was often accomplishing nothing except making myself mentally exhausted, irritated, and disconnected from my own peace.

Sometimes, what feels like deep reflection is simply the mind repeating the same thoughts in different forms. We create complicated explanations, connect endless dots, and build entire stories in our heads, believing we are moving forward. Yet when we step back, we realize we have barely moved at all.

I started to see this as a kind of mental treadmill. The mind is constantly running, but the destination never changes. There is movement, effort, and exhaustion, but no real progress.

And that’s where so much of our peace disappears.

It isn’t always the outside world that overwhelms us. Sometimes, it’s the endless conversation happening inside our own heads. We take a simple emotion and analyze it from every possible angle until we no longer know what we actually feel. We turn feelings into theories, experiences into concepts, and simple situations into complicated mental puzzles.

Eventually, we become so busy trying to understand everything that we forget to simply experience life. I’ve also realized how easily the ego can become attached to this process. There is something strangely satisfying about believing that we are the ones who “see deeper,” “understand more,” or have figured out what everyone else is missing.

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But sometimes that sense of intellectual superiority is just another trap.

We can spend hours discussing systems, narratives, ideologies, social dynamics, or endless online controversies while completely avoiding the one thing that might actually require our attention: ourselves.

It becomes easier to analyze the world than to sit quietly with our own emotions.

Easier to criticize someone else’s perspective than to question our own.

Easier to stay busy with information than to be present with what is happening inside us.

And before we know it, we’re no longer responding to reality. We’re responding to the version of reality that our mind has created.

That realization changed the way I look at arguments and online discussions. I don’t feel the same need to jump into every conversation anymore. I don’t need to correct every misunderstanding, prove every point, or convince someone to see things the way I do.

Not every disagreement requires my participation.

Not every opinion deserves my energy.

Not every confusing situation needs to be solved by me.

I’m learning that there is a huge difference between being aware and being mentally consumed.

I can observe something without becoming emotionally involved in it. I can recognize chaos without stepping into it. I can understand that someone is confused without making their confusion my responsibility.

For me, this has meant learning to become more of an observer than a fighter.

I used to believe that remaining silent meant giving up or allowing falsehood to win. Now I see silence differently. Sometimes silence is simply knowing that:

I don’t have to calm every storm.

I don’t have to chase every wave.

I can simply stand on the shore and let it pass.

The more distance I create from these endless mental battles, the more clearly I can see them for what they are. So many arguments are fueled by fear, insecurity, ego, or the need to be right. And I no longer want to become part of that cycle.

I don’t need to carry confusion that belongs to someone else.

I don’t need to search for perfect logic in something that was never logical to begin with.

And I certainly don’t need to sacrifice my peace just to prove that I understand something better.

There is a particular kind of freedom that comes from realizing you can simply walk away.

You can close the conversation.

You can stop explaining yourself.

You can leave the debate unfinished.

You can allow someone to misunderstand you.

And you can still be completely okay.

When I stop pouring my energy into pointless arguments, I have more energy for the things that actually matter to me. I have more room for creativity, presence, peace, and the parts of life that don’t need to be analyzed to death.

I’m beginning to understand that clarity doesn’t always come from finding another explanation.

Sometimes clarity arrives when I finally stop searching.

Sometimes the deepest answer is simply letting go.

And honestly, I’ve reached a point where I no longer want to spend my limited energy running on that mental treadmill.

I’d rather step off, breathe, and be here.

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Hello again, subscribers! In this case, I’m here to talk to you about something quite curious, which is the great importance the Beatles had in being able to blame Charles Manson for the atrocities he committed. And it was precisely thanks to this song, Helter Skelter, that they really managed to put this psychopath in prison.

That said, let’s begin. The Beatles... as I told you, we go back to the late 60s, a time when what you heard on the radio had changed quite a bit, from fun, light and catchy melodies like I Wanna Hold Your Hand to sounds that were a little more hard rock, so to speak. And although the Beatles had already experimented a little with these sounds, a light bulb went off for Paul McCartney when he heard an interview with Pete Townshend, a member of The Who. They were kind of the bad boys of music at the time. In this interview, he said:

McCartney took this a little bit as a kind of personal challenge and wanted to see if he was capable of making a song in that style for his group, the Beatles. And that is precisely how Helter Skelter came about, the song we’re going to talk about today, with a sound that we could say was almost visionary because it was somewhat anticipating what was going to come a few years later, anticipating the punk rock and heavy metal that were going to be heard so much, well, what I’m saying, a few years later. Specifically, Helter Skelter gets its name from this attraction that was quite popular in England in the 60s, which is like a kind of tower with a roller coaster that goes up and down. Paul McCartney himself explains it, saying:

So I’m going to leave the YouTube video with the song here, and if you want, you can listen to it and see what you think. I encourage you to listen to it, mainly because the reaction was super polarizing and to see a little bit what you thought when listening to it, because at that time there were people who thought it was literally a work of art, but on the other hand there were other people who thought it was absolute garbage; that is, there was no middle ground with Helter Skelter. SONG

But be that as it may, this song obviously left England, crossed the ocean and made its way to the United States, to the Manson family. And now comes the moment to introduce you to our unfortunate real protagonist: Charles Manson.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the murders, a little bit about how everything happened and so on, I mean, this is not a True Crime article, there won’t be any gruesome details, there won’t be little things like that or super-detailed descriptions, but that’s because that’s not what this is about.

The thing is: Charles Manson is the man who would later become the leader of one of the most famous cults in history, if not the most famous, and the person truly responsible for the murder of seven people. Before that, I have to say that he was a slightly problematic man. Well, actually, as an anecdote, his mother sold him to a waitress for a couple of beers, so I think that probably traumatized him from the very beginning. But anyway, the thing is that he had lived going in and out of prison for committing some minor crimes, especially compared to what he did later, but at that point he was nothing more than a slightly eccentric, manipulative, charismatic man and quite a music lover. In fact, he genuinely believed himself to be a rock star adored by incredibly devoted fans. He actually wrote, composed, sang—not very well, but hey, he did it.

And in fact, he had quite a few meetings and even musical sessions with some pretty important musicians in the music scene at the time. One of these musicians was precisely the vocalist and I think the drummer of the Beach Boys, but he was also in contact with various producers and so on, whom he tried to charm in whatever way he could, whether through drugs or directly through his girls. But anyway, the point and the final conclusion is that he never quite achieved the success he so desperately desired and expected. Maybe that’s actually why he did what he eventually did, I mean, I think that perhaps in his completely deranged mind he said: “Well, if I can’t be an adored rock star, I’m going to be the leader of these people who completely adore me and who would do anything for me, even sacrifice their own lives.”

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This man, at this point, in 1968 and 1969, spent his days surrounded by his girls, reading the Bible, playing the guitar and listening to his favorite band, which was the Beatles. By this point, by the year Helter Skelter was released, he already had a fairly large group of followers, especially made up of women, girls and young women whom he was beginning to convince that he was the new Messiah, that they had to listen to him, that he was salvation and blah blah blah... well, the kind of thing any cult leader says.

As I told you, Manson was a great music lover and while he was taking a break from his favorite activity, which was sleeping with his girls and taking LSD, he became especially obsessed with the Beatles’ White Album, which was constantly playing in the house where they lived, and he never stopped listening to it almost obsessively. One of Manson’s girls, Dianne Lake, wrote in her book Member of the Family:

The Beatles composed this album when they were looking for a slightly dirtier and less clear and less innocent sound, so it was a pretty dirty, distorted, absurd and chaotic album, where the Beatles were looking to experiment, have fun and embrace absolute absurdity in the music and composition of their songs.

And instead of seeing that, Manson saw subliminal messages in songs like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Honey Pie, Helter Skelter or Piggies (and remember this song because it’s going to be relevant in just a moment). Manson told them:

What a crazy guy. I mean, to begin with, they weren’t sending messages to absolutely anyone and, secondly, why does the Messiah have to be...?

The question is: what was this mission Manson was talking about? Well, to encourage an apocalypse, and survive it. And how do you encourage this apocalypse? By killing, and I quote, the “piggies,” the little pigs, a name that might sound familiar to you because of the Beatles song. Manson said that this album, which I repeat was nothing more than musical experimentation and compositional absurdity, announced that the apocalypse was very near and that if you listened carefully to its songs you could receive a message about how to survive this apocalypse, thus becoming the next rulers of the new world.

To give you some examples, because this man found meanings and messages in absolutely every song on the White Album, the ones that stood out the most for Manson were: Piggies, which according to him was a criticism of the upper class or the upper-middle bourgeoisie class, which obviously Manson, as a good hippie from the 60s and 70s, really disliked. Revolution 9, according to him, was related to the Book of Revelations, number nine in the Bible. This book is also called the Apocalypse and the particular passage talks a little about what happens during this Apocalypse; it explains that suddenly there would be some kind of bottomless pit in a city without moon and without sun, and he interpreted this as meaning that he had to look for this place because that would be the place where they would have to hide during the apocalypse. And for whatever reason he located it in the desert Death Valley in California. In other words, according to him, this city without moon and without sun that a book from centuries and centuries ago talks about was located in Death Valley, California, of course. But wait, because according to him this song says that he will embody the fifth angel because the other four are the Beatles, and that he was in charge of guiding his subjects to this valley, to this pit, to this city where they would be safe. I feel like I’m the crazy one explaining all of this, but anyway.

Manson gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine where he said:

Not for nothing, but of course, reading this again makes me think about the fact that he tattooed a swastika on his forehead. Obviously the swastika is not only a symbol of the Nazis, it is also very closely related to Buddhism and, well, anyway, tattooing a swastika on yourself in the 60s when 20 years earlier, which isn’t that long ago, all the Nazis and concentration camps had happened... well, although I repeat, this is not the most questionable thing this man did.

Other members focused on a scream that can be heard at the very end of this song that says (sorry, but it says): “Block that dick.” And they considered that it meant that they had to block/get rid of those Black men who wanted to sleep with white women.

Starting with Blackbird, which is a tribute song that McCartney wrote showing his support for those Black women who were fighting for the civil rights movement at the time, but Manson interpreted it as an explanation of what the apocalypse was going to be like, and it is very racist. According to him, this song explained that a bloody race war was coming in which the Black community was going to rise up violently against white people. Basically, this man couldn’t have been more misguided.

Small side note in case you hadn’t noticed: Manson was extremely racist, almost bordering on white supremacy.

And what about Helter Skelter, which is like the main protagonist of this story? Well, Paul McCartney, in a book he published in the year 2000, which is The Beatles Anthology, explained that Helter Skelter had something to do with the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Manson interpreted it like this: that in the song Helter Skelter we were the four horsemen and that we had started exterminating everyone. This particular song, or the words Helter Skelter, became the acronym or code word that the Manson family used to refer to this apocalypse and, more specifically, to this supposed violent race war. Dianne Lake explained again:

In fact, there is a line in the song that says “It’s coming down fast,” referring to the attraction or at least to something more metaphorical about the fall or this moment of absolute decadence, but they interpreted it as meaning that imminent chaos was coming. I’ve already told you that Manson found a meaning or hidden message in every song on that album. I’ve explained three or four to you because otherwise this could get very long. Although we also have to add that these people were normally high as hell, especially on hallucinogenic drugs, so on the one hand it is very easy to make all of this up, but it is also very easy in that mental state, which is more flexible or even more fragile, we could say, for all these ideas to get into your head. He told Rolling Stone magazine in 1970:

If everything that happened afterward hadn’t happened and so many people hadn’t died, this would be something practically ironic and funny, because precisely on this album there is a song called Glass Onion that makes fun of exactly those people who do such an exhaustive analysis of the lyrics of the music group and come up with these super-detailed and far-fetched analyses; in other words, the Beatles were practically making fun of Charles Manson precisely on that album that he adored so much.

The murders

And we finally arrive at the tragic day of August 9, 1969. Manson felt that he wanted to fire the starting gun on this race war that would lead to the apocalypse, so he thought: “How can I do it? How can I start all of this now that I am so prepared?” So he planned to murder famous or relevant white people in order to frame people from the Black community, more specifically the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were this Black Power group that existed during the 60s, well, more specifically the 70s and even the 80s, and it was founded precisely to protect the community from abuse, attacks, brutality, violence, etcetera. So Manson selected a victim: producer Terry Melcher, who is Doris Day’s son. And of course, supposedly the objective was to kill this person to start this apocalypse, but it is also quite a coincidence, isn’t it? A coincidence of life that Terry Melcher was also the producer who refused to produce Manson’s music. Quite a coincidence, isn’t it?

But anyway, the thing is that he sends his girls to his house, gives them the address, but what Manson didn’t know was that Melcher had recently moved and he no longer lived at that address; instead, actress Sharon Tate lived there together with her husband, film director Roman Polanski, a completely disgusting man with very serious accusations against him, which, by the way, he admitted guilt to. Among them are several sexual assaults, such as raping a girl no more than 13 years old. And where is this man? In prison serving his sentence, rejected by all of Hollywood and unable to work? Not at all. He fled to France before serving his sentence, where they cannot... Where, by the way, he continues to work and has been recognized with several awards that are by no means minor: I mean Oscars, César Awards, the Silver Bear in Berlin or even the Golden Eye for his entire career. So, well, I suppose those who criticize the supposed existence of cancel culture so much overlook this example for some reason, right? Just as they ignore many other cases like this that exist.

Anyway, let’s go back to another disgusting man, let’s go back to Manson. At this point Roman Polanski was not at his house, I think he was in London working, but his wife Sharon Tate was there, along with three friends who were brutally murdered. These girls, who followed Charles Manson’s orders to kill anyone who was in that house, wrote the title of one of the songs from the album that had supposedly inspired all of this on the wall with their blood: Piggies. The following night, and without wanting to go into gruesome details, something similar happened; in this case they wrote in blood on the refrigerator of the LaBianca couple, who were the victims, they wrote Healter Skelter, which was basically Helter Skelter but misspelled.

The trial

During part of this judicial process, Manson pretended that he had somewhat forgotten everything he had said about the White Album, the apocalypse and the war between whites and Blacks, and said that it had been an invention by the prosecution to blame him and justify his sentence. And that doesn’t mean he was right, but it was part of the strategy. Do you know the phrase “history is written by the victors”? Well, something similar happens here. And who are the victors in this case? Well, ultimately, the prosecution team that managed to put Manson in prison. The prosecution, taking advantage of Manson’s obsession with the Beatles, said that Manson listened to that music, predicted that a racial struggle was coming that would eventually lead to an apocalypse, and that was how he convinced the members of his cult to commit these murders of white people in order to frame Black people, to start this apocalypse themselves and have them be prepared while the Manson family hid in the desert until everything passed; and when it was over, Manson would come out of hiding victorious, becoming the leader of the new world.

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And although logically there is a lot of truth in this whole story, this story really became so mainstream because it was the only way to incriminate Manson. Without all this storytelling they would not have had grounds to blame Manson for the murders; he might even have gotten off completely free in court because although he ordered these crimes and these homicides, he was not the one who carried them out. And in order to prove that he was the person behind all of this, they had to find a motive for Manson to carry all of this out, they had to attribute a motive to him. Up until that point, they could not assign Manson a motive.

Loudersound magazine explains:

So, of course, the prosecution had to rely heavily on this story, a story that, I repeat, has some truth to it, but was logically expanded and magnified even further in order to convince the jury that Charles Manson was guilty beyond any doubt. Because if there is even the slightest doubt among the jury, they can no longer convict him in a trial in the United States, so they had to convince them without any kind of doubt. Besides, logically, the story was incredibly juicy from a media perspective, so many media outlets picked up on all of this. I mean, it’s a True Crime case, which usually attracts attention anyway, involving cults, which at that time were super viral, and involving one of the most brutal and famous musical groups of the time. It was so juicy that years later, as an anecdote, the main member of the prosecution, this Vincent Bugliosi whom I mentioned earlier, published a book that was precisely called Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which became the best-selling true crime book in history up to that point, so you can see a little bit the magnitude and power of this story from the prosecution’s side.

Manson was finally sentenced on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Well, actually, he was sentenced to death, but the United States Supreme Court intervened and eventually reduced it to life imprisonment. His members were logically also sentenced to different sentences depending on each one and their involvement in all of this.

I want to make it clear that I’m not saying that all of this about Helter Skelter and the Beatles’ music supposedly inspiring Manson is a lie, I mean, no, quite the opposite. But I do think that, as I say, since history is explained by the victors, this is the most mainstream version of the story. And I also think that this was not the order in which everything happened, and this is already my own theory. I think the media story says that Manson was possessed, so to speak, by these songs and that he committed these murders. I think it was the other way around: Manson already wanted to do everything he ended up doing and basically latched onto something to justify it, which in his case was the Beatles, mainly because there simply wasn’t any music being played more than the Beatles at that time. In other words, for me, first came his homicidal and criminal ideas (because, remember that this man already had a criminal pattern, ideas that were probably encouraged by this absolutely psychotic state caused by hallucinogenic drugs), and then he filtered all of that through the Beatles. He just needed an excuse to bring all of that out. What do you think?

The aftermath

Obviously, I’m not going to talk about the aftermath for the victims, because, I repeat, we’re not talking about True Crime; I’m going to talk more about what the Beatles’ reaction to all of this was. We’re talking about the fact that they were basically being blamed for atrocious crimes when in reality what they had done was their job, which was making music, experimenting and making people happy with their records. The general atmosphere was somewhat one of confusion, also sadness, logically, because we’re talking about people’s lives, and they also chose to say that Manson was directly crazy.

Lennon said:

It has to be said that this statement leaves you with a bit of a bad taste in your mouth because the same year Lennon gave this interview and said these words, the musician would be murdered by a fan (in many quotation marks) after listening to some of his songs.

Ringo Starr, for his part, had a fairly close relationship with Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, so he felt deep sadness over what happened and commented:

George Harrison seemed more, I think, angry and outraged, and with a feeling of helplessness about all of this, basically saying that Manson took advantage of all of this to commit atrocities that he was going to commit whether or not the White Album existed. He added:

Paul McCartney gave his explanations about this:

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Also, look, Beatles songs are very frequently covered, there have been many covers and interpretations of their music, but Helter Skelter is pretty high up on the podium of the most covered Beatles songs. In fact, I want to highlight a moment when Bono, from U2, did a cover of this song as a tribute to the Beatles and said:

And that’s it for today’s article. I hope you found it interesting, at the very least. As I told you, I’ve tried to go into as few gruesome details as possible. I’m sorry if you came into this video expecting a True Crime story, that wasn’t my intention, I’m sorry. I simply wanted to talk about music and this anecdote that mixes a little bit of True Crime, cults, manipulation, music, legal strategy... which has been catching my attention a lot lately.

Thank you so much for being here, thank you so much for spending a few minutes of your day with me!

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To understand why they turned to crime, you have to go back to the 1930s in the United States. The 1929 stock market crash left 34 million people unemployed, broke, and battered by the Midwest drought. Growing up in extreme poverty in Dallas, a young Clyde Barrow even lived with his family under a train car before they could afford a tent. For her part, Bonnie Parker was a passionate, fame-obsessed teenager who wrote poetry and dreamed of acting or singing. At fifteen, she married a small-time criminal named Roy and tattooed his initials above her knee—a gesture so rebellious for the era that it cemented her anti-establishment reputation before she turned twenty.

When the poet and the thief met while Bonnie was making hot chocolate in January 1930, it was love at first sight. Clyde was a young offender claiming he wanted an honest job, while Bonnie craved public attention. Three months after falling in love, Clyde was arrested for car theft. Demonstrating absolute devotion, Bonnie managed to smuggle a gun into the prison to help Clyde escape. The breakout was successful, but it lasted only a week before the police recaptured him and sent him to a maximum-security prison farm.

His time in prison was an absolute nightmare that altered Clyde’s path forever. After chopping off two of his toes with an axe to escape ruthless forced labor—leaving him with a lifelong limp—and killing his prison attacker with a lead pipe, Clyde emerged two years later transformed into a bitter man. His teenage dream was gone; now he was a relentless “rattlesnake” filled with resentment against the justice system, obsessed with arming himself and organizing a major raid to free his old companions.

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Reunited with Bonnie, the newly formed Barrow Gang embarked on a dizzying two-year crime spree across the Midwest. Armed with high-powered military weaponry that made police revolvers look ridiculous, they robbed banks, stores, and gas stations spree after spree. Yet their escapes often looked like a chaotic comedy of errors: in one car accident, battery acid left Bonnie with severe third-degree burns on her leg, forcing Clyde to carry her piggyback through much of their raids because she could barely walk.

How did two fugitives living in stolen cars become international celebrities? Everything changed when they hurriedly left behind an undeveloped roll of film at a hideout. When the press developed the photos, they went wild: there was Bonnie wearing a chic beret, playfully posing with a cigar and a shotgun like a 1930s fashion icon. In an era where women were expected to be submissive, Bonnie’s rebellious aesthetic with pants and guns turned her into a viral phenomenon.

If you think their criminal career was the work of masterminds, think twice. The gang had a habit of kidnapping local police officers and sheriffs just to take them on surreal joyrides, buy them clean shirts, give them gas money, and set them free without a scratch. No one knew whether to classify them as fearsome killers or overly attentive tour guides. Clyde even had the nerve to send a letter to Henry Ford praising his Ford V8 model as the best getaway car a thief could ask for.

However, the laughs ended when the body count began to rise. Between chaotic shootouts and impulsive gang members, nine law enforcement officers and several civilians lost their lives. After Clyde organized a bloody jailbreak at his former prison in 1934 that claimed an officer’s life, the federal government hired legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Hamer pursued them relentlessly after figuring out their habit of driving in giant circles along state lines to exploit legal loopholes.

The end came one May morning in 1934 on a quiet rural Louisiana road. Ambushed by a posse hidden in the brush, Bonnie and Clyde’s Ford V8 was hit with over 130 rounds in a matter of seconds. When the smoke cleared, police found the vehicle packed with stolen weapons, dynamite, Clyde’s saxophone, fifteen fake license plates, and the two dead lovers. They were only 23 and 24 years old when their frantic run came to an end.

The news spread rapidly, triggering a morbid hysteria. Over 12,000 people swarmed a small town of 2,000 to see the bullet-riddled car, while souvenir hunters tried to cut bloody locks of Bonnie’s hair or Clyde’s ear right at the scene. Although Bonnie had written a poem predicting they would be buried together, their families objected and placed their graves in separate Dallas cemeteries—proving that while they could outrun the law, they couldn’t escape family feuds.

Ultimately, Bonnie and Clyde were neither romantic heroes nor criminal masterminds; they were two ruined young people caught in a hopeless era, swept into pop culture immortality. We romanticize them because they embody the fatalistic dream of absolute loyalty.

Now that you know the absurd truth behind the myth: would you want a “Bonnie and Clyde” style of love, or do you prefer to keep your romance safe, peaceful, and impeccably within the law?

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God, I really wish I had taken everything in more. Experience life, take it all in, and be curious. And I think this is what we call “hope core,” it’s hope for life. There is something beautiful about that idea. Being curious about what is around the corner, even when you have no idea where you’re going. Trying things simply because they interest you. Going somewhere because you’ve never been there before. Letting yourself experience things without needing everything to have a purpose.

I think we’re taught to measure our lives through things that can be counted. How much money we make, what job we have, how successful we look from the outside. But money has never really been the thing we hold onto when we look back. Money will come, money will go. The experiences are what we’ll remember. The people that we met. And maybe that’s the part we forget when we get too caught up in trying to build the “perfect” life.

The memories that stay with us are often the simplest ones. A random afternoon that somehow became one of your favorite days. A conversation that lasted until three in the morning. Getting lost somewhere and laughing about it. Trying something completely new. Sitting somewhere with someone you love and realizing, without even saying it, that you’re exactly where you want to be.

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And then there are the people. The people who enter your life and, for a while, become part of your everyday world. You see them constantly. You make plans with them. You know their stories, their habits, and the things that make them laugh or cry. Let’s just go and find something that we love to do and experience that thing together. There’s something incredibly meaningful about simply finding something you love and experiencing it with someone else.

But life changes. People change. Someone you see every single day might not actually be someone you think about seven years from now. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be sad. Maybe it’s just a reminder that nothing is guaranteed to stay exactly the way it is now. Some people stay forever. Some stay for a chapter. Some leave you with a memory that you carry for the rest of your life.

That’s why I think we should say yes a little more often. Yes to the trip we keep postponing. Yes to learning something new. Yes to calling someone we haven’t spoken to in ages. Yes to doing something that scares us a little. Not because every day needs to be extraordinary, but because we never really know which ordinary day will become one of the ones we remember most.

And maybe experiencing life doesn’t even mean doing more. Maybe it means noticing more. Looking around instead of constantly looking ahead. Being fully present when you’re with someone. Watching the sunset without immediately reaching for your phone. Listening to a story. Taking the long way home. Letting yourself be bored sometimes. Letting a moment exist without needing to turn it into content.

Of course, life won’t always feel exciting. There will be difficult seasons, quiet seasons, and periods when nothing seems to be happening. Living fully doesn’t mean being happy all the time. It means allowing yourself to experience all of it—the good days, the bad days, the uncertainty, the excitement, the heartbreak, and the unexpected moments that make you feel alive again.

Maybe that’s what hope really is. Not knowing exactly what comes next, but still wanting to find out. Still being curious. Still wanting to meet new people, see new places, learn new things, and discover new versions of yourself. Because one day, we’ll look back and realize that life wasn’t waiting for us to finally have everything figured out. It was happening the whole time. We just had to be there for it.

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Passion is back. Caring deeply about your craft is cool again. And the world needs that now more than ever.

We really are living in a time where everyone seems to be trying so hard to look unbothered. Where trying too hard is embarrassing. Caring deeply about something is seen as weak. Being passionate about something is somehow considered corny.

And it’s not just affecting sports or art. It’s affecting the way we live.

Because the truth is, the best people—and the best experiences this life has to offer—are built through caring. Through passion.

The best athletes care deeply about their sport. The best actors care about their craft. The best creators care about what they put into the world. The best speakers care about the words they choose and the message they are trying to deliver.

And the best relationships? They are built when both people genuinely care. When both are willing to invest, to show up, to be vulnerable, and to be passionate about the relationship itself.

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Because here’s the truth about greatness:

It always requires a willingness to be seen giving everything you have.

You cannot achieve greatness without the vulnerability of caring.

You cannot get the outcome without risking the exposure. You cannot get the highlight without putting your heart into the game.

It simply doesn’t work that way.

Because the real price of caring is that you risk being seen. You risk disappointment. You risk people seeing you fail. You risk putting your heart into something and having it not work out. And most people simply aren’t willing to pay that price. So instead, everyone hides behind being “too cool.” They pretend they don’t care. They act detached. They make everything look effortless because, somehow, trying is embarrassing now.

But I think we need to bring passion back.

As a writer here, I care about my message. I care about my wording. I care about the quality of what I put out into the world. I care about whether my words actually mean something.

But once I publish an article, I have to let it go.

The views are out of my control. The likes are out of my control. Whether someone reads it, shares it, loves it, or completely ignores it—I cannot control that.

The work is done.

And I think that distinction matters.

You can care deeply about the work without handing your peace over to the result.

So if you truly want to make an impact, care deeply.

Put your heart into your words. Put your passion into your work. Give a damn about what you create.

But don’t give your peace to the outcome.

Because caring isn’t weakness.

Caring is the price of creating something that actually matters..

thank you!

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And every time you repeat those thoughts and words, you are reinforcing them as your reality. You are training your brain to notice more of what you continuously focus on.

This isn’t about lying to yourself or pretending that everything is perfect. It’s about becoming intentional with where you place your energy and attention, and choosing to direct them in a way that actually serves you.

For example, imagine you get sick.

Of course, you’re sick. You don’t need to deny how you feel. But instead of waking up the next morning and immediately complaining about how little sleep you got, how exhausted you are, or how terrible you feel, try changing the language you use.

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Tell yourself:

“I am getting healthier with every passing minute.”

Even if you don’t fully feel it yet.

That isn’t pretending. It’s redirecting your attention. It’s reinforcing a different message to your mind and body—one that supports you rather than pulls you deeper into how bad you feel. Give it a try the next time you’re sick. Notice what happens when, instead of constantly talking about how unwell you are, you consciously remind yourself that you are getting better minute by minute.

And notice how the people around you begin to reflect that language back to you. Instead of reinforcing, “You look terrible,” they may start saying, “You look better today.”

Little by little, you begin creating a different mental environment—one that is focused on recovery rather than illness, possibility rather than limitation.

Whether you like it or not, your words are always building towards something.

Eliminate the words and phrases that keep you stuck, and replace them with language that empowers you.

Because the way you speak to yourself doesn’t just describe your reality.

It shapes the reality you continue to build.

The magic that you seek is found in the words that you speak.

thank you!

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So, if you’d like to join, support what I’m creating, and get access to the exclusive articles, come join the community!

And genuinely, thank you for being here and supporting my work. Every subscription, message, comment, and bit of support means more than you probably realise. It helps me keep creating, learning, researching, and sharing all of this with you.

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Giulia Tofana is described as a charismatic and hardworking woman. She was orphaned at the age of thirteen, after her mother was executed for poisoning her husband. Giulia continued the family business and the production of Aqua Tofana, a lethal mixture of arsenic, lead, and belladonna.

Although today these substances sound like the last things we would want to put on our faces (although it has now been discovered that some of them are present in tampons nowadays!!), at the time they were commonly used for beauty purposes.

Belladonna was used to dilate the pupils and make the eyes look larger and brighter. Lead was used to whiten the skin, while arsenic was used to remove freckles and blemishes.

After the death of her parents, Giulia worked alongside apothecaries and learned about the creation of medicines, treatments, and other remedies. She got married and moved to Naples, where she had a daughter. Later, her husband died. There is not much information about how he died, but we can imagine...

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She then moved to Rome and built a large business, something quite unusual for a widowed woman at the time. She had always seen women as being tied to men they had never chosen for themselves. She had witnessed her own mother being abused and decided to help women who found themselves in similar situations.

Men were not allowed inside her shop, and in this way she created a safe space for women who came to buy Aqua Tofana. It was undetectable—it was the perfect poison.

Her list of clients continued to grow. These women made sure that her identity was never revealed, because she had saved their lives.

The speed at which the victim died depended on the amount of poison they consumed. To avoid suspicion, Giulia recommended putting only a few drops into their husbands’ food and allowing their health to gradually deteriorate. That way, it would appear as though they were dying from other common illnesses, such as a virus or a cold.

A brief aside here: throughout history, poison has been shown to be a preferred weapon among women because it allowed them to counteract the physical strength of men. Besides, people simply did not imagine that a woman could be capable of such a thing.

I’d also recommend a book about criminal psychology if you’re interested: The Criminal Mind by Vicente Garrido.

After 50 years running the cosmetics shop, a desperate and abused client came to her. She put the drops into the soup, but just as her husband was about to eat the dinner she had prepared, at the last moment, the woman stopped him from eating it.

Eventually, she revealed what she had done. He took her to the police, where she was interrogated.

The women warned Giulia so that she could escape to a convent and hide. Rumors began to spread, claiming that she was poisoning all the water in Rome. And, of course, gossip started spreading everywhere.

The police eventually dragged her out and tortured her to force her to give them information and reveal the identities of the women who had killed their abusive husbands.

Giulia was eventually said to have participated in the murders of 600 men.

In the end, she was executed along with her daughter and many of her clients.

Many people believe that Giulia was simply a successful woman, and that this was the real reason she was executed.

Fun fact: Mozart claimed that someone had given him Aqua Tofana, but as we already know, he enjoyed creating stories.

And that’s it for today’s article. I hope you’ve learned something new, and let me know in the comments if you already knew this story.

See you next time!

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But we have to go even further back. We have to go back to the Middle Ages and meet Christine de Pizan.

We go back to France in the 1300s. A young woman born in Venice lived at the court of King Charles V of France, since her father was the king’s astrologer. There she received a very privileged and unusual education for a woman of the time.

We have to take into account that at that time the value of a woman was almost material, that is, she was something that you exchanged in marriage and who was dedicated to domestic and maternal tasks. There were exceptions of working women, like Christine, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

She got married in 1379 and it was a happy marriage. Her husband supported her in her mission to educate herself and she did not adopt her husband’s surname. Unfortunately, ten years later her husband died, and at 25 she had to take care of three children and fight for an inheritance that they never gave her. She started working as a copyist, since women’s hands were good for this work. Many men did not treat her well. She started writing epistles, philosophy, poems… In this way she managed to become the first woman in Europe to make a living as a writer. Her writings usually challenged the misogynistic attitudes of the time and defended women’s intellectual rights. Among her rebellious writings is the first feminist manifesto in history, a book called The City of the Ladies, from 1405.

At this moment in Europe, there was the Querelle des Femmes. It was a literary debate about the relationship between men and women and what value a woman really had. And when I say debate, I mean monologue, since they did not let the protagonist of this ‘‘debate’’ participate. That is why it was so surprising that a woman responded to this publicly, and did not remain silent and subdued like all the others.

The poem The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, a work divided into two parts, was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Christine de Pizan.

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In the first part, a woman is portrayed as an idealized rose and a man has to conquer her, but in the second part the woman was portrayed as manipulative, lying, lustful, taking advantage of men. They were a source of deception and danger, and marriage was a trap for men, something that was too misogynistic even for that time.

And honestly, we still hear versions of these attitudes today, sometimes disguised as “jokes,” like: “Oh no, my girlfriend has me on a leash.”

Our protagonist, after reading this, decided to imagine a city where illustrious and renowned women from history and mythology lived. She named goddesses, nuns, queens, bohemians, scientists… adding up to 155 names of women who did something to support society. She did not exclude any woman.

So she called it The City of the Ladies, and it was a feminist utopia (the first in history). It is also said that this work presents itself as the first gynotopia.

The book begins with a response to a text, The Lamentations of Matheolus, where it says that women make men unhappy. The protagonist feels very hurt, and invokes the three virtues personified as women:

• The Lady of Rectitude

• The Lady of Reason

• The Lady of Justice

She uses them to refute the misogynistic arguments.

If you want to know more about the full development of her work, send me a message or leave a comment! 💌

This quote is from the year 1555, I repeat, the 15th century!!

The author began to receive commissions from the aristocracy and nobles, due to the importance of her writings. Although many commissions had a morbid intention because of the novelty of a woman being able to write, as she herself described it. Other works of hers were The Book of Peace and The Book of the Body Politic, believing in the idea of creating a more just and moral government led by wise rulers who fought for equality.

She was a mind ahead of her time… with such a Renaissance way of thinking.

So… had you ever heard of her?

I think very few people know her, together with many other illustrious women in history who have been overshadowed and pushed aside by men who were doing the same things as them.

She received many criticisms from men, both from her time and from later centuries. Because, of course, with these arguments of hers, men were losing everything. Because if women are seen as intelligent, then you can no longer deny them education, because that was their argument. And if they learn something, they are no longer so manipulable. And if they are no longer so manipulable, they have autonomy. And if you do not dedicate yourself to domestic work, you look for something that gives you more money…

All of this is a cycle that destabilizes the social structure of that moment and the current one.

That is why we say that sexism is systemic, because it touches all the pillars of society.

Today she continues to be a representative figure in the feminist struggle, an inspiration to continue fighting for what is ours.

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LINKS OF INTEREST:

• https://29secrets.com/her-story/her-story-feminist-lady-of-letters-christine-de-pizan/

• https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2021-01/a-feminist-in-the-middle-ages.html

• https://www.thecollector.com/christine-de-pizan-first-feminist-author/

• español: https://conversacionsobrehistoria.info/2024/03/08/christine-de-pizan-la-autora-de-la-primera-utopia-feminista-de-la-historia/

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This whole time, you’ve been stressing and overwhelming yourself by believing you’re lost. But what if you’ve simply mistaken uncertainty for failure?

Most people never even make it to the ocean. They stay in the pool—where everything is safe, predictable, familiar, and every edge has already been built for them.

The thing about the pool is that it’s comfortable because somebody else designed it. They decided where the walls go, how deep it is, and where you’re allowed to swim. You never have to ask yourself the question: What do I really want?

But what happens when you leave the pool and step into the ocean? Suddenly there are no lane lines, no map, and no one telling you where to go. Of course it feels confusing—not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because, for the first time, you’re doing something that is truly your own.

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Oscar Wilde expressed a similar idea:

“If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment. If you never know what you want to be, if you live what some might call the dynamic life, but what I call the artistic life, and have no profession, you are always searching, and there is no end to your search.”

So remember: what a privilege it is to be lost at sea. Because being lost in the ocean means you’ve had the courage to leave the pool behind.

Thank you for reading. I wanted to share this short article because I truly believe its message is important and deserves to reach more people.

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Cumulus Clouds

The typical fluffy cumulus clouds you see in the sky weigh roughly 1.1 million pounds and can contain more than 131,000 gallons of water. Even though these clouds weigh about the same as five blue whales, they don’t fall from the sky.

This is because the tiny liquid water droplets and ice crystals that make up a cloud are small enough to remain suspended in the air. Each droplet is about a million times smaller than a typical raindrop. When enough of these droplets combine, they become heavy enough to fall as rain or snow. The air beneath the cloud is actually denser and heavier than the cloud itself, allowing the cloud to float on top of it. You can think of it like oil floating on water.

Cumulonimbus

Now, think about being on an airplane.

There is a type of cloud called a cumulonimbus cloud. It is the largest type of cloud and one of every pilot’s biggest concerns. It has a cauliflower-shaped appearance and may look harmless from the outside, but it’s actually the most dangerous cloud for aviation.

Inside a cumulonimbus cloud, you’ll find extreme wind currents, severe turbulence, thunderstorms, intense rainfall, hail, and ice formation. These are some of the reasons why flying through one can be so dangerous.

That’s why airplanes are equipped with weather radar to detect and avoid these storms during the flight. Depending on the color displayed on the radar, pilots can determine whether the weather is light, moderate, severe, or extreme. Throughout the flight, pilots constantly monitor the weather along their route, and if necessary, they can request a different route or a change in altitude to safely avoid hazardous conditions.

Now imagine that one of these dangerous storms is directly over the airport where you’re supposed to land.

If it’s before takeoff and the storm can’t be avoided, the flight will simply be delayed. But if the aircraft is already in the air and needs to land, the pilots may enter a holding pattern, circling over a designated point while waiting for the storm to pass. If the weather doesn’t improve or fuel becomes a concern, they may divert to another nearby airport, known as the alternate airport.

Altocumulus

Another type of cloud is the altocumulus cloud. These patchy clouds are found in the middle levels of the atmosphere. They appear as layers or patches that form rounded clumps or rolls. They are usually white or gray and have noticeable shading on the side facing away from the sun. That shading is one of the easiest ways to distinguish them from cirrocumulus clouds, which generally don’t have that shadowed appearance.

Rainbow clouds

Now for my favorite—and one of the rarest—cloud phenomena: cloud iridescence, also known as rainbow clouds.

These beautiful clouds display soft rainbow colors when sunlight is diffracted by tiny water droplets or ice crystals. Many people believe they symbolize hope, personal transformation, angelic presence, and divine protection, acting as a bridge between heaven and earth. So if you’re lucky enough to see one, some say it’s a sign that better times are ahead.

There are many more types of clouds, and each one has its own unique characteristics and beauty. The next time you look up at the sky, you might recognize more than you ever did before.

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I’ll be sharing more exclusive content soon, and I can’t wait to have you with me on this journey.

Please feel free to send me a message, leave a comment, or share your thoughts anytime. I’d love to hear from you, and I’m always here for you.

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Before we say goodbye to The Art Corner...(for now)

And just like that, we’ve reached the end of The Art Corner. Over the last seven days, I’ve shared a new article every day, taking you on a journey through forgotten masterpieces, remarkable artists, and incredible stories hidden behind famous paintings. I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.

If you’ve missed any of the previous articles, don’t worry—they’re all waiting for you on my profile. I promise they’re full of fascinating stories, overlooked artists, and artworks you probably haven’t come across before. After all... you should never go to bed without learning something new. Thank you for reading, for your support, and for joining me on this little adventure through the history of art.

Remedios Varo’s paintings don’t simply ask you to look at them—they invite you into another universe. Strange creatures, mysterious machines, enchanted forests, and dreamlike characters fill her canvases, leaving you wondering whether you’re looking at a painting or stepping into the pages of a forgotten fairy tale. That’s the magic of Varo: nothing is ever completely explained, and that’s exactly what makes her work so captivating.

Early Life

Born in Spain in 1908, Remedios Varo grew up with creativity all around her. Her father, an engineer, taught her technical drawing from an early age, giving her the precision that would later define her incredibly detailed paintings. At the same time, she immersed herself in the novels of Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas, and Edgar Allan Poe—stories filled with adventure, mystery, and imagination that would quietly shape the fantastical worlds she would later create on canvas.

While her mother hoped religion would guide her life, Varo was drawn in a completely different direction. She became fascinated by mythology, alchemy, science, magic, and the occult—subjects that would eventually become some of the defining themes of her art. She later studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where she refined both her technical skills and her artistic voice.

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Her early years as an artist took her between Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris, where she found herself surrounded by some of the most exciting creative minds of the time. She admired Hieronymus Bosch’s fantastical worlds in the Prado Museum, met figures such as Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca, and Luis Buñuel, and experimented with playful Surrealist games like the famous cadavres exquis, where several artists created a single artwork together without knowing what the others had drawn. For Varo, creativity was never something rigid—it was something to be explored, shared, and constantly reinvented.

History, however, had other plans. The Spanish Civil War forced her to leave Spain, and as Europe descended into the Second World War, she fled once again. Living in France with the Surrealist poet Benjamin Péret, she became part of the Parisian Surrealist circle at a time when women often struggled to be accepted as equal artists. Through determination and talent, she earned her place.

Her Work

She also loved experimenting with unusual artistic techniques. In one work, The Soul of the Mountains, she used fumage, allowing candle smoke to create accidental shapes before transforming them into imagined landscapes and figures. It perfectly reflected the Surrealist belief that chance could unlock creativity in unexpected ways.

When the Nazis occupied France, Varo’s life changed once again. She and Péret were arrested, and after being released, she escaped to Mexico in 1941.

Mexico gave Remedios Varo the freedom to become the artist we celebrate today. It was there that she painted her most iconic works, creating mysterious scenes filled with alchemists, astronomers, inventors, dreamers, and magical beings. Her fascination with dreams, the subconscious, mysticism, and hidden knowledge wasn’t limited to her paintings either. Her studio was filled with crystals, stones, and objects that reflected the same sense of curiosity found throughout her art.

One of the most important people in this chapter of her life was fellow Surrealist Leonora Carrington. Although the two women had first met in Paris, it was in Mexico that their friendship truly blossomed. They inspired one another creatively, shared ideas, cooked together, laughed together, and built a remarkable artistic partnership while always maintaining their own unique styles. Alongside photographer Kati Horna, they formed an extraordinary circle of women artists who supported each other in a world still largely dominated by men.

Recognition finally arrived. Varo began exhibiting her work in Mexico City during the 1950s, and her first solo exhibition confirmed what those around her already knew—that she had created something entirely original. Her paintings couldn’t easily be compared to anyone else’s.

Sadly, her story ended far too soon. In 1963, Remedios Varo died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of just 55. Her death deeply affected Carrington and those closest to her, but her extraordinary paintings continue to captivate audiences decades later.

Perhaps that’s what makes Remedios Varo so unforgettable. She never painted the world as it was—she painted the world as it could exist if dreams, magic, science, and imagination all lived side by side.

The end.

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Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth

Three of the Seven Deadly Sins depicted in the painting.

At first glance, The Roses of Heliogabalus looks almost magical. Soft pink petals float through the air, luxurious marble surrounds the guests, and everything seems elegant and peaceful. But don’t let the beauty fool you. This is one of the darkest—and strangest—stories ever painted.

Created by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1888, the painting tells the story of one of Ancient Rome’s most notorious emperors: Heliogabalus. If you think modern celebrities know how to cause a scandal, they have nothing on him. His extravagant lifestyle, endless parties, and disregard for Roman traditions earned him countless enemies and eventually cost him his life after only four years on the throne.

Victorian audiences were fascinated by stories like this. Although nineteenth-century Britain was known for its strict moral values and conservative society, artists loved painting dramatic scenes from history filled with excess, temptation, and human weakness. Alma-Tadema understood that perfectly.

According to the ancient text Historia Augusta, Heliogabalus invited his guests to an extravagant banquet where wine flowed freely and the celebrations lasted for hours. As the evening went on, the guests became exhausted, relaxed, and completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Then, without warning, the ceiling opened.

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At first, only a few flower petals drifted gently into the room. It must have seemed like the perfect finishing touch to an unforgettable evening. But the petals kept falling... and falling... and falling. What began as a beautiful shower quickly turned into a nightmare. Soon the guests were buried beneath enormous piles of flowers, unable to move or breathe. According to the story, many suffocated while the emperor calmly watched the chaos unfold, amused by what he considered entertainment.

Here’s an interesting detail that many people miss. The original Roman account actually mentions violets, not roses. So why did Alma-Tadema change the flowers? The answer lies in Victorian symbolism.

During the nineteenth century, flowers had their own secret language known as floriography. Roses represented passion, desire, and lust, while violets symbolized modesty and faithfulness. Since Heliogabalus was famous for indulgence rather than virtue, roses carried a much stronger message for the Victorian audience.

The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where visitors admired not only its incredible technical detail but also its hidden moral lesson. To Victorian viewers, the scene wasn’t simply an ancient anecdote—it was a warning about excess, temptation, and the consequences of uncontrolled pleasure.

Creating the painting was no small task. Alma-Tadema spent around four months completing it after receiving an enormous sum at the time. Ironically, despite his enormous success during his lifetime, Alma-Tadema’s reputation faded soon after his death in 1912. As artistic tastes changed and modern movements took centre stage, his highly detailed Academic style fell out of fashion. It wasn’t until the second half of the twentieth century that critics and museums began to appreciate his extraordinary craftsmanship once again.

Today, The Roses of Heliogabalus remains one of those paintings that rewards a closer look. At first you see beauty. Then you notice fear. Finally, you realise that every delicate rose petal is part of a deadly trap. It is the ultimate Roman death. And perhaps that’s exactly why the painting continues to fascinate us more than a century later.

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About her life

Long before Tarsila do Amaral became Brazil’s most celebrated modern artist, she was already living a life unlike almost anyone else of her time. Born in 1886 into one of São Paulo’s wealthiest coffee-growing families, she grew up during a period of enormous change. Brazil was moving from monarchy to republic, slavery had just been abolished, and the country was beginning to redefine its identity. While most women of her generation were expected to follow a conventional path, Tarsila chose one filled with art, travel, and independence.

Her education took her far beyond Brazil. After studying in São Paulo, she continued her artistic training in Barcelona and later in Paris, where she attended the prestigious Académie Julian. She travelled extensively across Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. These experiences broadened her artistic vision and helped shape the bold, international perspective that would later define her work.

Paris became much more than a place to study—it became the centre of her artistic world. There, she worked alongside some of the greatest creative minds of the twentieth century, including Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brâncuși, Jean Cocteau… Strongly influenced by Cubism, and later touched by elements of Surrealism, Tarsila absorbed the latest European ideas before transforming them into something entirely her own.

But she wasn’t simply another artist trying to fit into Parisian society. Stylish, confident, and impossible to ignore, she embraced the city’s vibrant cultural scene while proudly presenting herself as Brazilian. Wearing the latest designs from Paul Poiret, using the perfumes of Jean Patou, and exhibiting her paintings in solo shows in Paris, she became a familiar face in artistic circles. At the same time, she understood that Europeans were fascinated by the exotic image of Brazil, and she cleverly used that.

A Negra and the self-portrait In a Red Coat, give us a hint of who she was. In a Red Coat shows Do Amaral in a lavish, deep red coat by Poiret. It represents an elegant woman in her 30s, living her life like other rich girls in the City of Light.

Abaporu

This painting turned out to be a symbol of the anthropophagic movement. This artistic approach stated that it is absolutely natural for a human being to be a cannibal and to digest everything in order to create new things.

It prompted the best works of Do Amaral: Antropofagia, A lua, and Sol poente. These three paintings are strikingly modern, and the way she communicated the essence of the Brazilian landscapes (real or fantastical) was original and sensual.

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She died in 1973, and today she is an iconic figure in Brazil. Her works are seen everywhere in contemporary design, public art, and marketing outlets. What is often omitted in this popularization of her art is that she was a complex woman, a brave artist, and a trailblazing creator of modern Brazilian identity and aesthetics.

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thank you :) This is the 5th post of the series, only 2 more to goooo