Distant World

Author: Sofía Bassi

Title: Mundo lejano (Distant World)

Date: 1988

Material: Oil on masonite

Dimensions: 15.7 × 11.8 inches

Location: Private collection

Rights: Sofía Bassi Foundation

Distant World exemplifies Sofía Bassi’s distinctive fusion of alchemical symbolism and surrealist landscape, presenting a visionary topography charged with metaphysical tension. The composition is dominated by an imposing, cathedral-like crystalline formation that rises from a spectral terrain, embodying the alchemical principle of transformation and spiritual ascension. Ethereal figures—some draped in flowing garments, others seemingly merging with the landscape—inhabit this liminal space, evoking a ritualistic procession or a scene of cosmic dimensions.

Bassi’s use of deep blues and luminous greens bathes the scene in an eerie glow, reinforcing the sense of an alternate dimension beyond time and space. In the foreground, serpentine forms coil toward an enigmatic blue egg—a potent symbol of creation, transmutation, and the birth of new realities. The figures, caught in gestures of invocation or surrender, suggest an unseen force at play, guiding the work’s dreamlike narrative.