Monkey, 1992 Digital

Shows a woman's face with flowing red hair, a raven on the right and a monkey on the left. There is a yellow and black checkered background behind the figures.

Described by Gianni Menichetti in 'Notes about Vali's drawings in this book' (YMS 16336, Box 6/3): The monkey appears in quite a few of Vali's drawings. While the raven embodies the state of nigredo, the monkey seems to have one foot in the human world and the other in the animal one. A trickster, sometimes humorous but more often suffering the 'blues', when it appears is quite revealing of a delicate or dangerous state of mind. C. G. Yung whom she read a lot calls it "an appropriate symbol for that part of the psyche which goes down into the subhuman". Vali had a naughty little monkey, by the name of Mani, who delighted in biting the ears of Fanny the donkey and used to sit on top of the chimney in winter to keep his bottom warm. 'Monkey' was also the nickname that her crazy Moroccan lover (Pierre Feuillete) in Paris gaver her in the early 50s.