What is an Alebrije?

Published July 20, 2024

by Efrain Gonzales

DON PEDRO LINARES LÓPEZ: CREATOR OF THE ( ALEBRIJES )

Alebrijes are One of the most popular and relatively recent manifestations of Mexican Folk art. Alebrijes are surreal creatures  from an oneiric world that were “brought to life” by Pedro Linares Lopez (1906-1992), a paper Maché artist from Mexico City,  renowned for making big figures for easter’s eve called Judas. Mr Linares job as cartonero or paper mache artist was so good  that Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo used to collect his creations, even before he made the first alebrijes.

History, origin and meaning

In 1936, Pedro Linares fell sick and had severe hallucinations where he saw fantastic figures like a donkey with wings, a frog with a rooster’s head and so many other creatures that repeatedly said: Alebrije, alebrije, alebrije! But, what does the word Alebrije mean? Fortunately, Mr Linares recovered from his illness before the definition of the word alebrije was revealed to him. Hence, there is not a precise meaning nor an etymology for the word alebrije. Despite the lack of linguistic explanation to the word alebrije, Mr. Linares gave significance to his visions by representing the creatures he saw using his paper maché skills. When the first customer saw them and asked: “what is that figure?”, Mr. Linares simply said: It is an Alebrije.