She was a prolific artist from the late 1940s to the 1960s, exhibiting frequently in Mexico and the United States, with a wide circle of friends in these two countries.

Her work remained tied to surrealism but was also innovative, including abstract elements and the use of techniques such as sgraffito and the use of sand for texture.

[2][3] Her most vivid memories of childhood were of Brittany, the house of her paternal grandparents in Roscoff, where she passed long periods of time in the summer and during the Christmas holidays.

This left her isolated from other children, including her younger sister Geo, spending time in the family garden reading, writing and drawing to occupy her mind.

With him she became involved with the Surrealism movement, published poetry under the name Alice Paalen, and met others such as Eva Sulzer, a Swiss photographer, with whom she was lifelong friends.

[10] They finally arrived to Mexico City in 1939 by an invitation from Kahlo in Paris,[11] at first staying in a hotel in the San Ángel neighborhood.

[3][15][18] She lived surrounded by mementoes of her life, including books signed by the likes of Breton, Paul Éluard, poems by Picasso, letters from Henry Moore and Anaïs Nin, paintings dedicated by Yves Tanguy and Paalen, and old photographs and souvenirs.

[3][22] In France, she published 'A meme la terre' with a print by Yves Tanguy, and in 1938 Sablier Couche, illustrated by Joan Miró.

[3][24] In Mexico, Rahon gradually left poetry, but she did publish one last collection of works called 'Noir Animal', in which appears a portrait of Alice painted by Paalen.

[25] She also contributed some poems and illustrations to Wolfgang Paalen's DYN (magazine), which published writing in English and French about Mexico for foreign audiences.

[29] She was supported in this endeavor by husband Wolfgang Paalen, who helped her get her first exhibits in 1944 and 1945 at the Galería de Arte Mexicano with Inés Amor, then in California and New York.

[32] She created the script and costume design for a production called Orion, el gran hombre del cielo; however, it was never produced during her lifetime.

[30] In 2012 her work was included in the exhibition In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

[35] In 2022 the Gallery Wendi Norris in San Francisco held a solo exhibition of her work entitled Uncovering Alice Rahon.

[36][37][38] In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

[29] Her work has been described as primitive and intensely poetic, “breathing with and inner life.”[3] Her paintings have some link to surrealism but are also tied to her experiences in Mexico and her use of colour, light and the appearance of landscapes show influence from poetry.

[30] Her works were considered mature from the beginning, with abstract elements (not accepted in Mexico at the time) but still representing something concrete, almost always natural phenomena.

[43] She created paintings to honor Giorgio de Chirico, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Joan Miró and Pablo Neruda .

[15] While surrealist, her work also demonstrates the beginning of abstract art in Mexico in the 1940s, along with Carlos Mérida, Gunther Gerzso and Wolfgang Paalen.