Leonora Carrington

Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) was a British‑born Mexican painter and writer whose visionary contributions to Surrealism expanded the movement’s thematic and political horizons. Raised in an aristocratic English family, Carrington rebelled early against social convention, aligning herself with avant‑garde circles in London and later Paris, where she collaborated with figures such as Max Ernst. Her early works already demonstrated the narrative richness and mythological complexity that would define her mature practice.

Following traumatic wartime experiences and her eventual relocation to Mexico City, Carrington developed a singular visual lexicon blending Celtic mythology, alchemy, Mesoamerican cosmologies, and feminist reimaginings of power. Paintings such as *The House Opposite* (1945) and *The Giantess* (c. 1947) exemplify her ability to construct worlds where animal‑human hybrids, ritualistic figures, and esoteric symbolism animate a deeply personal mythology. Carrington also produced plays, novels, and sculptures, each medium expanding her exploration of transformation and the unseen.

Major exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Serpentine Gallery (2015) and MUAC in Mexico City, have reaffirmed her status as a central figure in Surrealism and feminist art history. Her work resides in collections such as the Tate, MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museo de Arte Moderno. Carrington’s influence on contemporary practices—particularly those engaging mysticism, gender, and decolonial narratives—is profound. She stands as an artist who not only inhabited Surrealism but reshaped its imaginative and political possibilities.