Google Doodles on Tuesday honoured Mexican artist Pedro Linares Lopez, who is known for his animal sculptures of papier-mache known as alebrijes. Tuesday also marked the late artist’s 115th birth anniversary. The doodle illustrator, Emily Barrera, said, “Pedro Linares gave alebrijes their name and inspired many others around the country to start creating their own alebrijes”.

Linares is a pioneer of Mexican folk art. “Linares’ alebrijes were made by mixing multiple animal body parts, such as using a snake body, rooster’s beak, bat wings, lizard legs, bull horns, etc., having, as a result, a unique creature”, said Barrera, reported Newsweek.

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Linares was born in Mexico City in 1906. From a young age, he was trained by his father, who was also a papier-mache sculptor. Linares was proficient at making varius forms of papier-mache, by the age of 12. He created forms such as pinatas and traditional skeletal figures known as Calaveras. Linares died on January 26, 1992.

Linares said that he was inspired to create alebrijes in 1945 when he was sick. Wake Forest University’s Museum of Anthropology in North Carolina said, “He became very ill and while in an unconscious state Linares dreamed of these incredible, scary creatures”, reported Newsweek.

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“The creatures began chanting a single nonsense word: alebrije… alebrije… alebrije! He became afraid and couldn’t tell if they were warning or threatening him. However, it was enough to startle him awake in time for his fever to subside”, said the museum. Linares’s creations of alebrijes did not attain much success in the beginning as they were deemed to be scary. Over time, alebrijes “caught the attention of a prominent gallery owner who marketed and sold his colourful sculptures”, said the museum.