Guillermo Meza

(Mexico City, 1917 – 1997)

Chicomecoatl

1964

oil on canvas

70 x 70 cm

Inv. no. CAB087

BBVA Collection Mexico



This spectacular painting combines composure with imaginative effusiveness. Chicomecoatl (meaning seven snakes in the Nahuatl language) was the Mexican goddess of survival and more specifically of corn; she was the main protector of vegetation and therefore also of agricultural and human fertility. Alternatively named as Xilonen (mother of tender red corn) and as Ilamatecuhtli (old dignitary, ripe white corncob), during rituals in her honour, altars were decorated with corn plants and a young woman was beheaded in sacrifice, with her blood poured over a statue of Chicomecoatl, while her flayed skin was worn as a cloak by a priest. In ancient times she was represented by a woman whose embrace meant certain death.

In this delirious image, Meza delves into ancestral mysticism and cosmogony. The cruel gaze of this goddess is chilling. The mask covering her face except for the fleshy lips blends in with the earthy matter. Red grains are embedded in the figure’s forehead, just as this goddess was depicted in codices, with a split mask: seven is the middle number in the series from one to thirteen; one of the halves represents the heart (Yólotl), the other half the corncob (Olotl).

Meza’s power of transfiguration, his desire to plumb the depths of his origins, find a supreme answer in this sumptuous and disquieting work.