Leonora Carrington was born in 1917 in Lancashire, England and passed away in 2011 at the age of 94 in Mexico City, Mexico. A leading artist of the 20th century, Carrington incorporated painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, printmaking, and writing into a body of work produced throughout her nearly seven-decade career.
Raised in the English upper class, Carrington's early life was privileged, yet her personal freedom was restricted by the conventions of traditional gender roles. However, Carrington's childhood was imbued with magical stories of Celtic mythology and folklore, as told by her Irish mother, grandmother, and nanny. In these fantastic tales of humans, animals, and nature living harmoniously as joined forces against threats of injustice and violence, she found ideas which would profoundly influence the rest of her life.
In 1937, Carrington's mother gifted her a copy of Herbert Read's Surrealism, which served as her first introduction to the growing avant-garde movement. While studying at Amédée Ozenfant's academy, Carrington met Max Ernst, and they began a romantic relationship. Together they moved to Paris where Carrington was introduced to André Breton, Yves Tanguy, Leonor Fini, and the larger community of artists and intellectuals in the city. In 1938, she participated in the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in Paris and a Surrealism exhibition in Amsterdam, cementing her position in art history among the Surrealists despite personally disagreeing with the categorization as such. While she and the Surrealists shared a disdain for bourgeois values, Carrington was resolutely autonomous, never ascribing to common Surrealist motifs.
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the German-born Ernst was considered an enemy alien and arrested. Alone in France, Carrington's mental stability weakened. With friends she fled to Spain, but along the journey her psychological state continued to deteriorate, leading to her forced admission into a sanitarium in Santander. She would later recount this experience in her memoir Down Below (1943).
Carrington escaped Spain in 1941 and passed through New York before arriving in Mexico City in 1942. She found a home in Mexico with fellow European émigrés Remedios Varo, who became her close friend, and the Hungarian photographer Emerico "Chiki" Weisz, whom she married in 1946. Carrington continued to exhibit internationally. As she experienced marriage and motherhood, Carrington's work became steeped in archetypically feminine iconography, such as cooking motifs and domestic interior scenes. She recognized the remnants of an ancient magic still present in the acts of making food, having a family, and painting pictures. She saw the similarities between what she was doing at home and what alchemists attempted to do — both involved manipulating inanimate matter to harness its life-endowing properties. It was in this period that Carrington revisited the Renaissance practice of using tempera paint, made from pigment and egg yolk, to imbue her aesthetic vision and the physical substance of her paintings with life itself.
Her art was well-received in Mexico, and in 1963 Carrington received a government commission to create a mural for the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, which she titled El mundo mágico de los mayas (The Magical World of the Maya). In the 1960s and 1970s, Carrington became a political activist, hosting student meetings at her home and co-founding the Mexican women's liberation movement in 1972. In the 1980s, the renowned mural was moved to the Regional Museum of Anthropology and History of Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, and in 1986 Carrington's political involvement earned her the Lifetime Achievement Award at the United Nations Women's Caucus for Art convention in New York. In 2005, Leonora Carrington received Mexico's National Prize of Sciences and Arts.
Carrington's work has been acquired by museums worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Tate, London, United Kingdom; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands, among others.
Since Carrington's passing in 2011, her work has been the subject of the following solo museum exhibitions: Leonora Carrington: Revelation at the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark and Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain (2022-2023); Leonora Carrington: Magical Tales at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Monterrey, Mexico (2018); Leonora Carrington at the Tate Liverpool, United Kingdom (2015); and The Celtic Surrealist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (2014). Her work has also been featured in the exhibitions In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States (2012) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany (2020) and the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark (2020); Surrealism Beyond Borders at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2021) and Tate Modern, London (2022); Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy (2022) and Museum Barberini, Potsdam, Germany (2022); and the 59th Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams (2022), the title of which was taken from a book by Leonora Carrington.
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Green Tea, 1942
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Untitled, 1942
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The Kitchen Garden on the Eyot, 1946
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Buen Rey Elk Horn, 1948
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Portrait of Madame Dupin, 1949
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Fina mosca, 1949
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Ulu's Pants, 1952
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And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur!, 1953
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The Fall of the House of Mink, 1956
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For the Man Who Did It Last Time Will Never Do It Now, 1957
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La Jaca, 1961
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A Map of the Human Animal, 1962
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La maja del Tarot, 1965
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The Bird Men of Burnley, 1970
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Sanctuary for Furies, 1974
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Bird Bath II, 1978
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The Lovers, 1987
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Installation view, "Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo," Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2020
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Installation view, "Leonora Carrington," ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022 - 2023
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Installation view, "Leonora Carrington’s Bestiary," Art Basel 2024, booth D10, Basel, Switzerland, 2024
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Installation view, "Landscapes of the Mind," Frieze Masters 2024, booth F16, London, England, 2024
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Leonora Carrington | The Story of the Last Egg
May 23 - June 29, 2019GALLERY WENDI NORRIS OFFSITE EXHIBITION 926 Madison Avenue, New York, NY In the first New York solo exhibition in 22 years for the late artist, Gallery Wendi Norris presents '...Read more -
Threads of Memory
One Thousand Way of Saying Goodbye October 21 - November 15, 2017Gallery Wendi Norris’ final exhibition at 161 Jessie Street, Threads of Memory: One Thousand Ways of Saying Goodbye, presents a celebratory survey of the gallery’s program, including emblematic works by...Read more -
Leonora Carrington | The Celtic Surrealist
April 3 - May 31, 2014San Francisco - Gallery Wendi Norris presents Leonora Carrington : The Celtic Surrealist, a traveling subset of works from the critically acclaimed 2013 exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern...Read more -
Leonora Carrington: The Talismanic Lens
February 7 - March 30, 2008Frey Norris Gallery presents 'The Talismanic Lens,' the result of a five year endeavor of collecting, studying and getting to know Leonora Carrington, one of the last surviving Surrealist artists...Read more
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Frieze Masters 2024 | Booth F16
Leonora Carrington, Wolfgang Paalen, Marcel Jean, Bridget Tichenor, Alice Rahon, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Kay Sage, and Leonor Fini October 9 - 13, 2024“The sincerity of the artist consists, not in copying the reflection of the world on his retina, but in testifying with sincerity to all his...Read more -
Art Basel 2024 | Booth D10
Leonora Carrington June 13 - 16, 2024'Once a dog barked at a mask I made; that was the most honourable comment I ever received.' (Leonora Carrington in 'Commentary,' 'Leonora Carrington: A...Read more -
Frieze Masters 2023
Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Alice Rahon, and Wolfgang Paalen October 11 - 15, 2023Between Here and There “Breton Péret Buñuel Leonora Remedios Paalen Alice Gerzso Frida Gironella César Moro convergence of insurgences … There is no outside nor...Read more -
Frieze Masters 2022
Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Alice Rahon, Dorothea Tanning October 12 - 16, 2022Gallery Wendi Norris will present 'Phenomena,' a group exhibition featuring fresh-to-market modern works by gallery artists Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Alice Rahon, and...Read more
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ADAA The Art Show | New York 2020
Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo February 27 - March 1, 2020Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present rare works by Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo this week at the ADAA The Art Show. Leonora Carrington...Read more -
EXPO Chicago 2014
Val Britton, Leonora Carrington, Helen Rebekah Garber, Yamini Nayar, Dorothea Tanning September 18 - 21, 2014
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Galerie | Discover Why Surrealism Is Having a Major Moment
A century later, Surrealism, especially its female practitioners, once again captivates the art world with its disorienting, allegorical style October 16, 2024by Ted Loos 16 October 2024 When Leonora Carrington ‘s fanciful and dramatic 1945 canvas Les Distractions de Dagobert sold for $28.5 million at...Read more -
Artnet | An Expansive New Surrealism Show Celebrates 100 Years Of Artistic Revolution
Featuring more than 500 objects, the Centre Pompidou's "Surrealism" show explores the global reach and diversity of the artistic movement. October 4, 2024by Sofia Hallström 4 October 2024 Between the rise of artificial intelligence and the proliferation of “fake news,” living in the 21...Read more -
Frieze | Celebrating 100 Years of Surrealism at Frieze
Discover the movement’s iconic artists and contemporary legacy at the London fairs, from Man Ray, Dora Maar and Leonora Carrington, to Carol Bove and Leiko Ikemura October 3, 2024By Livia Russell 3 October, 2024 '...Leonora Carrington ‘didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse’. Having left London for Paris, with the arrival of...Read more -
Twelve Museums Acquire Works by Gallery Wendi Norris Artists
July 9, 2024June 9, 2024 Please join Gallery Wendi Norris in congratulating the Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cincinnati Art...Read more -
The Art Newspaper | San Francisco gallery capitalises on Leonora Carrington’s auction success
Fairgoers flock to stand dedicated to the Surrealist artist after Sotheby’s sale of painting last month for $28.5m June 13, 2024Carlie Porterfield 12 June 2024 A solo stand dedicated to the Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) has been a fan favourite among Art Basel visitors...Read more -
ARTnews | A Bay Area Dealer Who Rewrote the History of Surrealism Makes Her Art Basel Debut
June 11, 2024By Alex Greenberger June 11, 2024 These days, it is hard to imagine a time when everyone wasn’t talking about Leonora Carrington’s art. In 2022,...Read more -
Hyperallergic | Leonora Carrington Masterpiece Sells for $28.5M, Shattering Records
The Surrealist work, acquired by Argentinian museum founder Eduardo F. Costantini, makes Carrington the most valuable UK-born woman artist on the public market. May 16, 2024Valentina Di Liscia May 16, 2024 Eduardo F. Costantini, the Argentinian businessman, real-estate developer, and founder of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires...Read more -
The Telegraph | How Leonora Carrington Entered Art's Super League
The surrealist who scoffed at her own success is now Britain’s most successful female artist in terms of sales May 7, 2024By Colin Gleadell May 7, 2024 A British artist who was expelled from several schools, rejected by her family, hospitalised for psychosis, and believed her...Read more -
Ocula | Frieze Masters 2023 Artwork Highlights
October 18, 2023Leonora Carrington, Cerebro de Pedro (1967) at Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco Made for the artist Pedro Friedeberg, this watercolour on paper by the...Read more -
Artforum | Gods and Monsters: Susan L. Aberth on “Leonora Carrington: Revelación”
May 1, 2023Susan L. Aberth May 2023 AS LEONARA CARRINGTON'S STAR continues to ascend, propelled by an explosion of exhibitions, publications, theatrical productions, and...Read more -
W Magazine | Why Leonora Carrington’s Work Feels So of the Moment
The Surrealist's dreamlike paintings and idiosyncratic life story are resonating with a new generation. February 4, 2022Kate Dwyer February 4, 2022 On Wednesday, the Venice Biennale announced the lineup for its 2022 edition, a 'transhistoric exhibition' emphasizing female and gendernonconforming artists...Read more -
Four Gallery Wendi Norris Artists Selected for Venice Biennale 2022
February 3, 2022Gallery Wendi Norris celebrates the invitation of four of our artists to The Milk of Dreams, the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di...Read more -
ARTnews | Paying Tribute to Leonora Carrington, 2022 Venice Biennale Takes the Title ‘The Milk of Dreams’
June 9, 2021Maximilíano Durón June 9, 2021 The 59th edition of the Venice Biennale will be titled 'The Milk of Dreams,' the exhibition's artistic director, Cecilia...Read more -
Art in America | Synthetic Surrealism
April 7, 2021By Lucy Ives April 7, 2021 In 1949, seven years after fleeing a warring Europe for Mexico City, the artist and writer Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)...Read more -
Art in America | How Leonora Carrington’s Surrealist Art Imaginatively Reclaimed Female Perspectives
April 7, 2021By Tessa Solomon April 7, 2021 As artist Leonora Carrington told it, shortly after she became friends with members of the Surrealist movement, Joan Miró...Read more -
The Nation | Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes
The surrealist painter’s only novel, The Hearing Trumpet, is a wily, epicurean, and hilariously scattershot exploration of nature, religion, myth, and more. April 1, 2021Zachary Fine April 1, 2021 The life of the Surrealist painter and writer Leonora Carrington has, through time, shrunken into a myth. She was...Read more -
Hyperallergic | A Revelatory Tarot Deck by Leonora Carrington
Resurfacing a little known part of the artist's oeuvre, a new text from Fulgur Press demonstrates that occultism was thoroughly knit into the fabric of Carrington's life. March 3, 2021Cassie Packard March 3, 2021 Until recently, even leading scholars weren't aware that the British-born Mexican Surrealist Leonora Carrington had created her own tarot deck....Read more -
The New Yorker | How Leonora Carrington Feminized Surrealism
Each time the work of the British-Mexican artist and writer is reborn, it seems more prescient. December 21, 2020By Merve Emre December 21, 2020 When asked to describe the circumstances of her birth, the Surrealist painter and writer Leonora Carrington liked to tell...Read more -
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington
December 10, 2020By Susan Aberth and Tere Arcq Introduction by Gabriel Weisz Carrington Published by Fulgur Press The British-born artist Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) is one of the...Read more -
Artnet | Sotheby’s Middling Impressionist and Modern Sale Nets $62.8 Million Thanks to a Major Boost From Latin American Treasures
June 30, 2020Eileen Kinsella June 30, 2020 Sotheby's started off the lengthy auction evening on a strong note, but bidding for Impressionist and Modern art was more...Read more -
ARTnews | Sotheby’s Global Hybrid Online Evening Sale Soars to $363.2 M.
June 30, 2020Angelica Villa June 30, 2020 The art market reopened last night with a resounding bang as Sotheby’s sold $363.2 million in modern and contemporary art...Read more -
Literature and Arts of the Americas | Leonora Carrington: The Story of the Last Egg
Gallery Wendi Norris - Offsite Exhibition New York City, May 23rd, 2019 to June 2019 June 17, 2020Margaret Carson June 17, 2020 Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, 53:2, 145-148 , (2020) Margaret Carson's translations include Remedios Varo's Letters, Dreams...Read more -
Artsy | How These 7 Women Are Making the Art World More Diverse
March 9, 2020Anna Louie Sussman March 9, 2020 Women have played key patronage roles in the history of art—from the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut, through Renaissance patrons...Read more -
AnOther Magazine | Top Ten Surrealists: From Dorothea Tanning to Man Ray
March 5, 2020Daisy Woodward March 5, 2020 Surrealism - that seminal artistic and literary movement led by French poet André Breton - has continued to inspire creative...Read more