Sofía Celorio Mendoza (1913–1998) was a Mexican painter and writer whose work fused surrealism with alchemical symbolism, making her a distinctive voice in 20th-century Mexican art. A contemporary of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, Bassi shared their interest in the occult and otherworldly imagery. However, while Carrington and Varo often conveyed personal mythologies through intricate symbolism and surrealist narrative, Bassi’s approach was more expansive and abstract, crafting vast dreamlike landscapes filled with floating castles, spectral figures, and alchemical symbolism that evoke spiritual ascension and inner transformation.

Born to a Spanish father and a Mexican mother, Bassi grew up in a conventional and stable household in Córdoba, Veracruz. She studied philosophy for two years at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and although she received no formal artistic training, she developed her visual language as a self-taught artist. She first married the Belgian aristocrat Hadelin Diericx at a young age, with whom she lived in Europe before returning to Mexico. Her second marriage was to the Italian Gianfranco Bassi, an economist and chemical industrialist from a noble family, whose surname she adopted as her artistic name. Remarkably, she began painting at the age of 51, launching a prolific career that would include around 90 solo exhibitions and participation in 165 group shows across Mexico and internationally.

Bassi’s life took a dramatic turn in 1968, when she was convicted of the murder of her son-in-law, the Italian Count Cesare d'Acquarone — a case that drew intense public attention and remains surrounded by controversy. Sentenced to prison, she continued to paint prolifically while incarcerated, using art as a means of psychological and spiritual transmutation. During this period of five years, she produced 275 works, which she signed ELC (en la cárcel / “in prison”), marking a singular and introspective chapter in her creative journey. While her earlier works conveyed a sense of expansive dreamscapes and metaphysical aspiration, the paintings she produced in prison took on a more introspective, emotionally charged tone. The ethereal remained, but it was now imbued with personal crisis, spiritual struggle, and symbolic confrontation. It was in prison that she redefined her artistic practice as a form of alchemy, and affirmed her belief in the “esoteric force of art” as a channel for personal transformation.

A central motif in Bassi’s work is the egg, which she embraced as a potent alchemical symbol of rebirth, metamorphosis, and the cyclical nature of life and death. Far from a static emblem, the egg becomes in her paintings a dynamic force — a vessel of transit, creation, and transformation. These ovoid forms often appear floating through dreamlike landscapes or suspended in cosmic space, evoking origins beyond time and the gestation of new realities. Around them, Bassi frequently depicted castles, towers, and ruins, creating a symbolic world marked by change, introspection, and spiritual quest.

Throughout her life, Bassi claimed to be accompanied during her creative hours by a goblin named Alfolí, who, according to her, had also been a companion of Franz Anton Mesmer—the eighteenth-century physician who theorized “animal magnetism,” or the natural energetic connection between all living and non-living things. Alfolí served not only as a spiritual presence but also as a narrative figure in her literary work. Bassi wrote a series of children’s stories in which a young girl named Sofía meets Alfolí and embarks on magical journeys through enchanted lands, blending autobiographical fantasy with esoteric allegory.

Over the course of her career, Bassi painted three murals. One of them was created while in prison in Acapulco, in collaboration with José Luis Cuevas, Alberto Gironella, Rafael Coronel, and Francisco Corzas; her section, titled La Calumnia (The Slander), expressed the emotional crisis she was undergoing. In 1970, she completed Primero mi patria, luego mi vida (First My Homeland, Then My Life), a patriotic work in Venetian mosaic, and in 1993, she painted Sabiduría es la paz (Wisdom is Peace), located in the Antonio Caso Library at the Faculty of Law, UNAM.

After her release from prison, Bassi resumed her career with renewed vigor, gaining further recognition in Mexico and abroad. In addition to her paintings, she was a prolific writer, publishing several books, including the novel El color del aire (The Color of Air, 1966) and Bassi… Prohibido pronunciar su nombre (Bassi… Forbidden to Speak His Name, 1978), a testimonial work in which she recounts her prison experience. Her literary output, like her painting, delved into themes of transformation, identity, and spirituality.

Among her most enigmatic creations was the Ovosarcófago (Ovosarcophagus), an egg-shaped sarcophagus on which she worked for ten years and in which she was eventually laid to rest. More than a funerary monument, the Ovosarcófago was conceived as a vessel—a metaphysical craft designed for the soul’s journey beyond the material world. This notion of the egg as a vehicle is reflected throughout Bassi’s paintings, where it often appears drifting through surreal terrains or navigating celestial space, suggesting transit to distant galaxies or unknown inner realms.

Though often associated with surrealism, Bassi’s work defies easy classification, deeply rooted in esoteric imagery and a personal philosophy of constant transmutation. Unlike many of her contemporaries, her engagement with alchemy was not merely thematic but existential—she lived her art, turning even the darkest moments of her life into opportunities for inner awakening and creative regeneration.

Today, Sofía Bassi is recognized as a singular figure in Mexican modern art. Her paintings and sculptures reflect a sustained interest in spiritual themes and alchemical language, offering a distinctive contribution to the visual culture of twentieth-century Mexico.