Air Mexicain

Air Mexicain, a collaboration between the Mexican visual artist Rufino Tamayo and the French poet Benjamin Péret, recounts the history of Mexico from Mesoamerican civilizations before European colonization to the Mexican Revolution in the early twentieth century. In 1941, Péret fled to Mexico with his wife, the Surrealist painter Remedios Varo, after being imprisoned by the French government for his affiliation with the Communist party. It was during his time in Mexico that Péret met Tamayo and developed an interest in Mesoamerican culture, mythology, and history; these subjects inspired the poem that Péret wrote upon his return to France. Tamayo was known for using a variety of graphic techniques and a selective, vibrant color palette inspired by the Mexican landscape, which can be seen in his illustrations for Air Mexicain.