View source for Leonora Carrington

{{Short description|British and Mexican artist, surrealist painter and novelist (1917–2011)}}
{{Distinguish|Dora Carrington}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Leonora Carrington
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}}
| image       = Leonora_Carrington.jpg
| children    = Gabriel and Pablo Weisz
| birth_date  = {{birth date|df=yes|1917|4|6}}
| birth_place = [[Clayton-le-Woods]], [[Borough of Chorley|Chorley]], Lancashire, England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|2011|5|25|1917|4|6}}
| death_place = [[Mexico City]], Mexico
| citizenship = United Kingdom <br/> Mexico (from 1942)<ref name="Mexican Senate">{{cite web |title=Coordinación de Comunicación Social&nbsp;– Homenaje póstumo en el Senado a la artista nacionalizada mexicana, Leonora Carrington |url=https://comunicacionsocial.senado.gob.mx/informacion/comunicados/7408-homenaje-postumo-en-el-senado-a-la-artista-nacionalizada-mexicana-leonora-carrington |website=Senado de la República |access-date=16 May 2024}}</ref>
| known_for   = Painting<br/>Writing
| movement    = [[Surrealism]]
| spouse      = [[Renato Leduc]]<br/>[[Chiki Weisz|Emerico "Chiki" Weisz]]
| website     = {{URL|leocarrington.com}}
}}

'''Mary Leonora Carrington''' (6 April 1917{{spaced ndash}}25 May 2011<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/arts/design/leonora-carrington-surrealist-dies-at-94.html |title=Leonora Carrington Is Dead at 94; Artist and Author of Surrealist Work |date=May 26, 2011 |agency= |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|last=Grimes |first=William |author-link=William Grimes (journalist) |url-access=subscription}}</ref>) was a British and Mexican<ref name="Mexican Senate" /> [[Surrealism|surrealist painter]] and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in [[Mexico City]] and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movement of the 1930s.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Leonora Carrington dead at 94|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/06/carr-j22.html|author=Paul Bond|date=22 June 2011|website=World Socialist Web Site|access-date=23 April 2013}}</ref> Carrington was also a founding member of the [[women's liberation movement]] in Mexico during the 1970s.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Chadwick|first1=Whitney|title=Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness|journal=[[Woman's Art Journal]]|year=1986|volume=7|issue=1|pages=37–42|doi=10.2307/1358235|jstor=1358235}}</ref><ref name="Phaidon Editors">{{cite book  |title=Great Women Artists |year=2019 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0714878775 |page=90}}</ref>

==Early life==
Carrington was born on 6 April 1917 at Westwood House in [[Clayton-le-Woods]], [[Borough of Chorley|Chorley]], Lancashire,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://chorleyheritagecentre.co.uk/content/leonora-carrington-lancashires-surrealist-painter |title=Leonora Carrington&nbsp;– Lancashire's Surrealist Painter &#124; www.chorleyheritagecentre.co.uk |website=chorleyheritagecentre.co.uk |year=2013 |access-date=25 June 2021}}</ref><ref name=son/><ref name="Leonora 1964">See Carrington's "El Mundo Magico de Los Mayas"</ref> England, into a Roman Catholic family.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Leonora Carrington|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonora-Carrington|access-date=18 July 2022}}</ref> Her father, Harold Wylde Carrington, was a wealthy textile manufacturer,<ref name=son/><ref>Robinson, Michael. ''Surrealism'' (Fulham: Star Fire, 2006), p. 312</ref> and her mother, Marie (née Moorhead), was from Ireland.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-103734|title=Carrington, (Mary) Leonora (1917–2011), artist and writer|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/103734|isbn=9780198614111}}</ref><ref name=son>[http://www.carringtonleo.5u.com/leoweb/leobio.htm Leo Carrington & Sons website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529035908/http://www.carringtonleo.5u.com/leoweb/leobio.htm |date=29 May 2011 }}</ref> She had three brothers: Patrick, Gerald, and Arthur.<ref name="aberth"/><ref name=NYT/> From 1920 until 1927 she lived at Crookhey Hall, a [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] mansion in [[Cockerham]], which exerted a great influence on her imagination.<ref name="aberth"/>

Educated by governesses, tutors, and nuns, she was expelled from two schools, including [[New Hall School]] in [[Chelmsford]]<ref>[https://www.newhallschool.co.uk New Hall School website]. Retrieved 27 May 2011</ref> for her rebellious behaviour, until her family sent her to [[Florence]], where she attended Mrs Penrose's Academy of Art. She also, briefly, attended St Mary's convent school in Ascot.<ref name=SLevy>{{cite web |author=Silvano Levy|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leonora-carrington-surrealist-painter-and-sculptor-who-found-her-artistic-and-spiritual-home-in-2290181.html |title=Leonora Carrington: Surrealist painter and sculptor who found her artistic and spiritual home in Mexico|date=27 May 2011|access-date=26 December 2017|work=The Independent}}</ref> In 1927, at the age of ten, she saw her first Surrealist painting in a [[Rive Gauche|Left Bank]] gallery in Paris and later met many Surrealists, including [[Paul Éluard]].<ref name="Carington Leonara bio">{{cite web|last=Carrington Leonara|title=Carrington Leonara bio|url=https://www.rogallery.com/Carrington_Leonora/carrington-bio.html|access-date=14 May 2013}}</ref> Her father opposed her career as an artist, but her mother encouraged her. She returned to England and was [[Debutante|presented at Court]], but, according to her, because she had no intention of being "sold to the highest bidder" she brought a copy of [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Eyeless in Gaza (novel)|Eyeless in Gaza]]'' (1936) to read instead.<ref name="aberth"/> In 1935, she attended the [[Chelsea College of Arts|Chelsea School of Art]] in London for one year, and with the help of her father's friend [[Serge Chermayeff]], she was able to transfer to the [[Amédée Ozenfant#Final years|Ozenfant Academy of Fine Arts]] established by the French modernist [[Amédée Ozenfant]] in London (1936–38).<ref name="aberth"/><ref name=NYT/> She was one of the first students at the Academy, the others being [[Stella Snead]] and Ursula Goldfinger, under the instruction of [[Sari Dienes]], who co-directed the school.  She remained friends with Dienes throughout her life.<ref>{{cite web |title=Life: 1898 – 1939 |url=https://www.saridienes.org/life/1898-1939.html |website=Sari Dienes Foundation |access-date=14 December 2024}}</ref>

She became familiar with [[Surrealism]] from a copy of [[Herbert Read]]'s book, ''Surrealism'' (1936), given to her by her mother,<ref name=NYT/> but she received little encouragement from her family to forge an artistic career. The Surrealist poet and patron [[Edward James]] was the champion of her work in Britain; James bought many of her paintings and arranged a show in 1947 for her work at the [[Pierre Matisse#Pierre Matisse Gallery|Pierre Matisse Gallery]] in New York. Some works are still hanging at James' former family home, currently [[West Dean College]] in [[West Dean, West Sussex]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/jan/02/art Leonora and me] (accessed online 4 April 2008)</ref>

==Association with Max Ernst==
In 1936 Carrington saw the work of the German [[Surrealist]] [[Max Ernst]] at the [[International Surrealist Exhibition]] in London and was attracted to him before she even met him. In 1937 Carrington met Ernst at a party at the Goldfingers' in London with [[Sari Dienes]], who was a friend of Ernst.<ref>[[Michael Bird (author)|Bird, M.]], ''The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time'' ([[Farnham]]: [[Ashgate Publishing|Lund Humphries]], 2008), p. 44.</ref>{{rp|44}} The artists bonded and returned together to Paris, where Ernst promptly separated from his wife. In 1938 they left Paris and settled in [[Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche]] in southern France. The new couple collaborated and supported each other's artistic development. The two artists created sculptures of guardian animals (Carrington created a plaster horse head, while Ernst created birds) to decorate their home in Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche. In 1939 Carrington and Ernst painted portraits of each other. Both capture the ambivalence in their relationship, but whereas Ernst's ''The Triumph of Love'' features both artists in the composition,<ref>Francesca Bonazzoli and Michele Robecchi, ''Portraits Unmasked: The Story Behind the Faces'', [[Prestel]], London, 2020, pp. 30–33.</ref> Carrington's ''[[Portrait of Max Ernst]]'' focused solely on Ernst and is laced with heavy symbolism.<ref name="aberth"/> The portrait was not her first Surrealist work; between 1937 and 1938 Carrington painted [[Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)|''Self-Portrait'']], also called ''The Inn of the Dawn Horse'', now exhibited at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]. Sporting white jodhpurs and a wild mane of hair, Carrington is perched on the edge of a chair in this curious, dreamlike scene, her hand outstretched toward a prancing hyena and her back to a tailless rocking horse flying behind her.

With the outbreak of World War II Ernst, who was German, was arrested by the French authorities for being a "hostile alien." With the intercession of [[Paul Éluard]], and other friends, including the American journalist [[Varian Fry]], he was released a few weeks later. Soon after the Nazis invaded France, Ernst was arrested again, this time by the [[Gestapo]], because his art was considered by the Nazis to be "[[Degenerate art|degenerate]]." He managed to escape and flee to the United States with the help of [[Peggy Guggenheim]], who was a sponsor of the arts.<ref>[https://www.abcgallery.com/E/ernst/ernstbio.html Max Ernst profile]. Retrieved 21 July 2007</ref>

After Ernst's arrest Carrington was devastated and agreed to go to Spain with a friend, Catherine Yarrow.<ref>McConnell, Reed. [https://thebaffler.com/latest/surrealisms-beating-heart-mcconnell "Surrealism's Beating Heart"]. ''[[The Baffler]]'', 18 February 2021</ref> She stayed with family friends in Madrid, and soon experienced two traumatic events. First, while she was alone in a cafe, Spanish soldiers took her to a hotel where they gang-raped her.<ref>{{Cite web |title="I have no delusions. I am playing"—Leonora Carrington's Madness and Art |url=https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/2275-i-have-no-delusions-i-am-playing-leonora-carrington-s-madness-and-art}}</ref> Second, after a psychotic break caused by her paralyzing anxiety and delusions, she was admitted into an asylum in Santander. She was treated with [[Pentylenetetrazol|Cardiazol]] shock therapy and [[phenobarbital|Luminal]] (a [[barbiturate]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gaensbauer|first=Deborah B.|title=Voyages of Discovery: Leonora Carrington's Magical Prose|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00497878.1994.9979027|journal=[[Women's Studies Quarterly|Women's Studies]]|year=1994|volume=23|issue=3|doi=10.1080/00497878.1994.9979027|page=275|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>Martin-Dominguez, J.,
[https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/08/15/inenglish/1502798938_665406.html "A British painter's nightmare in post-Civil War Spain"], ''[[El País]]'', 22 August 2017</ref> She was released from the asylum into the care of a keeper, and was told that her parents had decided to send her to a sanatorium in South Africa. En route to South Africa, she stopped in Portugal, where she made her escape. She went to the Mexican diplomatic mission to find [[Renato Leduc]], a poet and the Mexican diplomat. They had been introduced in Paris by their common acquaintance [[Pablo Picasso]] (the men knew each other from bull fights) and he agreed to a marriage of convenience with Carrington so that she would be accorded the immunity given to a diplomat's wife.<ref name="Santiago">{{cite web|last1=Hernández Santiago|first1=Joel|author2=Luis Carlos Sánchez|date=28 May 2011|title=Leonora Carrington y Renato Leduc, amor convenido|url=https://www.excelsior.com.mx/node/740473|access-date=19 December 2016|website=[[Excélsior]]|language=es}}</ref> She took Mexican nationality in 1942.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/carrington-leonora-19172011|title=Leonora Carrington|access-date=18 February 2025|website=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> The pair divorced in 1943.<ref name="Santiago" /> Meanwhile, Ernst had married Peggy Guggenheim in New York in 1941. That marriage ended a few years later. Ernst and Carrington never resumed their relationship.

==Mexico==
[[File:Cocodrilo LeonoraCarrington.jpg|thumbnail|''[[How Doth the Little Crocodile (Carrington)|How Doth the Little Crocodile]]'' on [[Paseo de la Reforma]]. The statue was donated to Mexico City by Carrington in 2000 and was moved to its current location in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cocodrilo, de Leonora Carrington, posa en su nuevo lecho de agua sobre Reforma|url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/03/19/index.php?section=sociedad&article=049n1soc|website=La Jornada|publisher=UNAM|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref>]]
After spending a year in New York, in 1942 Leduc and Carrington went to Mexico—where many European artists fled in search of asylum—which she grew to love and where she lived, on and off, for the rest of her life.<ref name="Santiago" />

When Carrington first came to Mexico she was preceded by the success of Surrealist exhibitions which allowed her to create many connections within the movement. Her connections within these Surrealist circles were influential in opening artistic doors that had long been closed to Mexican artists. After living in Mexico for seven years, Carrington held her first solo exhibition at the Galeria Clardecor. Much of the initial response from the public was very encouraging, and for months afterwards the press published positive and approving reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |title=El arte de ensueño de Leonora Larrington (sic) · ICAA Documents Project · ICAA/MFAH |url=https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/765080#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-3413,-16,10124,5666 |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=icaa.mfah.org}}</ref>

After spending part of the 1960s in New York City, Carrington lived and worked in Mexico once again.<ref name="Leonora 1964"/> While in Mexico she was asked, in 1963, to create a mural which she named ''El Mundo Magico de los Mayas'',<ref name="El mundo mágico de los Mayas">{{cite book|last=Carrington|first=Leonora|title=El mundo mágico de los Mayas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGEKAQAAIAAJ|access-date=25 September 2013|year=1964}}</ref> and which was influenced by folk stories from the region.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Aberth|first1=Susan|title=Leonora Carrington: The Mexican Years, 1943–1985|journal=Art Journal|date=Autumn 1992|volume=51|issue=3|pages=83–85|jstor=777352|doi=10.2307/777352|last2=Barnet-Sanchez|first2=Holly|last3=Carrington|first3=Leonora}}</ref> The mural is now located in the [[Museo Nacional de Antropología]] in Mexico City.

In 1973 Carrington designed ''Mujeres conciencia'', a poster for the Women's Liberation movement in Mexico, depicting a 'new Eve.'<ref name="Chadwick 2012">{{cite book |last1=Chadwick |first1=Whitney |title=Women, Art, and Society |date=2012 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |edition=5th}}</ref> In the 1970s women artists of previous waves and generations responded to the more liberal climate and movement of the array of feminist waves. Many pushed the issues of women's liberation and consciousness within their work while others spoke out on issues instead of making art.<ref name="Chadwick 2012"/> Carrington frequently spoke about women's "legendary powers" and the need for women to take back "the rights that belonged to them." Many artists involved in surrealism regarded women to be useful as muses but not as artists in their own right. Carrington was adopted as a femme-enfant by the Surrealists because of her rebelliousness against her upper-class upbringing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-25 |title=Leonora Carrington&nbsp;– The Pioneer of Feminist Surrealism |url=https://artincontext.org/leonora-carrington/ |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=artincontext.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

Carrington primarily focused on psychic freedom in the belief that such freedom cannot be achieved until political freedom is also accomplished.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Through these beliefs Carrington understood that "greater cooperation and sharing of knowledge between politically active women in Mexico and North America" was important for emancipation.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Carrington's political commitment led to her winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women's Caucus for Art convention in New York in 1986.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Throughout the decade women identified and defined an array of relationships to feminist and mainstream concepts and concerns. Continuing through the decade women continued to question the meaning of existence through form and material.<ref name="Chadwick 2012"/>

{{Blockquote|text = I didn't have time to be anyone's muse... I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist.|sign = Leonora Carrington<ref name="Leonora Carrington's quotes">{{cite web|url=https://www.leocarrington.com/quotes-citas.html|title=quotes|access-date=25 September 2013}}</ref>}}

==Second marriage and children==
She later married [[Chiki Weisz|Emerico Weisz]] (nicknamed "Chiki"), born in Hungary in 1911, a photographer and the darkroom manager for [[Robert Capa]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Together they had two sons: Gabriel, an intellectual and poet, and Pablo, a doctor and Surrealist artist. Chiki Weisz died on 17 January 2007, at home. He was 95 years old.

==Death==
Leonora Carrington died on 25 May 2011, aged 94, in a hospital in Mexico City as a result of complications arising from [[pneumonia]].<ref name="Fox News">{{cite web|title=Leonora Carrington's Death|website=[[Fox News]] |url=http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2011/05/26/artist-leonora-carrington-dies-mexico/|access-date=25 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927033928/http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2011/05/26/artist-leonora-carrington-dies-mexico/|archive-date=27 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Moorhead|first1=Joanna|title=Leonora Carrington obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/may/26/leonora-carrington-obituary|website=The Guardian|access-date=2 May 2017|date=26 May 2011}}</ref> Her remains were buried at [[Panteón Inglés]] (English Cemetery) in Mexico City.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2011/05/26/actualidad/1306360811_850215.html |title= La pintora surrealista Leonora Carrington fallece en México a los 94 años |newspaper= El País |date=26 May 2011 |access-date=17 Jun 2022 |language=es |trans-title=Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington dies in México aged 94}}</ref>

==Themes and major works==
[[File:The_Magical_World_of_the_Mayans_(19175233482).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Leonora Carrington, ''The Magical World of the Mayans'' (1963–1964), [[National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico)|National Anthropology Museum]]]]

Carrington stated that: "I painted for myself...I never believed anyone would exhibit or buy my work."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> She was not interested in the writings of [[Sigmund Freud]], as were other Surrealists in the movement. She instead focused on magical realism and alchemy and used autobiographical detail and symbolism as the subjects of her paintings. Carrington was interested in presenting female sexuality as she experienced it, rather than as that of male Surrealists' characterization of female sexuality.<ref name="Chadwick 2012"/> Carrington's work of the 1940s is focused on the underlying theme of women's role in the creative process.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Carrington's work is identified and compared with the Surrealist movement. Within the movement, there was a strong exploration of the woman's body combined with the mysterious forces of nature. During this time women artists correlated the feminine figure with creative nature while using ironic stances.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women, Art & Society|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London|year=1990|isbn=9780500204054|pages=183}}</ref>

When painting, she used small brushstroke techniques building up layers in a meticulous manner, creating rich imagery.

In ''[[Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)]]'' (1937–38), Carrington reflects on her own identity, associating herself with both the horse and hyena.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barnitz |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Frank |first2=Patrick |title=Twentieth-century art of Latin America |date=2015 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=978-1-4773-0804-2 |pages=124–127 |edition=Revised and expanded}}</ref> She offers her own interpretation of female sexuality by looking toward her own sexual reality rather than theorizing on the subject, as was custom by other Surrealists in the movement. Carrington's move away from the characterization of female sexuality subverted the traditional male role of the Surrealist movement. ''Self-Portrait'' (1937–38) also offers insight into Carrington's interest in the "alchemical transformation of matter and her response to the Surrealist cult of desire as a source of creative inspiration."<ref name="ReferenceA" /> ''Self Portrait'' further explores the duality that comes with being a woman. This concept of duality is explored by Carrington using a mirror to assert duality of the self and the self being an observer with being observed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women, Art and Society|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London|year=1990|isbn=978050020405-4|pages=314}}</ref> The hyena depicted in ''Self-Portrait'' (1937–38) joins both male and female into a whole, metaphoric of the worlds of the night and the dream.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The symbol of the hyena is present in many of Carrington's later works, including "La Debutante" in her book of short stories ''The Oval Lady''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hubert|first=Renee|date=1 July 1991|title=Leonora Carrington and Max Ernst: Artistic Partnership and Feminist Liberation|journal=New Literary History|volume=22|issue=3|pages=715–745|doi=10.2307/469210|jstor=469210}}</ref>

Three years after being released from the asylum and with the encouragement of [[André Breton]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hertz |first1=Erich |title=Disruptive Testimonies: The Stakes of Surrealist Experience in Breton and Carrington |journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures |date=June 2010 |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=89–104 |doi=10.1080/00397709.2010.483409}}</ref> Carrington wrote about her [[Psychosis|psychotic experience]] in her memoir ''Down Below''.<ref name="Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost">{{cite journal|last=Gaensbauer|first=Deborah B.|title=Voyages of Discovery: Leonora Carrington's Magical Prose|journal=Women's Studies|year=1994|volume=23|issue=3|pages=271–284|doi=10.1080/00497878.1994.9979027}}</ref> In this, she explained how she had a nervous breakdown, didn't want to eat, and left Spain. This is where she was imprisoned in an asylum. She illustrates all that was done to her: ruthless institutional therapies, sexual assault, hallucinatory drugs, and unsanitary conditions. It has been suggested that the events of the book should not be taken literally, given Carrington's state at the time of her institutionalization; however, recent authors have sought to examine the details of her institution in order to discredit this theory.<ref name="Leonora Carrington">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/8539650/Leonora-Carrington.html|title=Leonora Carrington|work=The Telegraph|access-date=11 March 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hoff|first=Ann|date=Spring 2009|title='I Was Convulsed, Pitiably Hideous': Convulsive Shock Treatment in Leonora Carrington's Down Below.|journal=Journal of Modern Literature|volume=32|issue=3|pages=83–98|doi=10.2979/JML.2009.32.3.83|s2cid=162017220}}</ref> She also created art to depict her experience, such as her ''Portrait of Dr. Morales'' and ''Map of Down Below''.<ref name="Hertz2010">{{cite journal|last1=Hertz|first1=Erich|title=Disruptive Testimonies: The Stakes of Surrealist Experience in Breton and Carrington|journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures|volume=64|issue=2|year=2010|pages=89–104|issn=0039-7709|doi=10.1080/00397709.2010.483409|s2cid=155670412}}</ref> Another small work, ''Villa Pilar'', painted while she was undergoing treatment, was given to the supervising doctor Luis Morales and was kept by his family.<ref name="Keeley2026">{{cite news |last1=Keeley |first1=Graham |title=The surrrealist masterpiece that escaped an asylum |work=The New World |issue=490 |date=2026}}</ref>

Her book ''[[The Hearing Trumpet]]'' deals with ageing and the female body. It follows the story of older women who, in the words of Madeleine Cottenet-Hage in her essay "The Body Subversive: Corporeal Imagery in Carrington, Prassinos and Mansour", seek to destroy the institutions of their imaginative society to usher in a "spirit of sisterhood."<ref name="The hearing trumpet" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Surrealism and Women|last1=Caws |display-authors=etal |first1=M. A.|last2=Kuenzli|first2=R. |last3=Raaberg|first3=G.|author-link1=Mary Ann Caws|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|year=1991|isbn=0262530988|location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3wVAi1r8nVcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA86 86–87]}}</ref>{{rp|86–87}} ''The Hearing Trumpet'' also criticizes the shaming of the nude female body, and it is believed to be one of the first books to tackle the notion of [[gender identity]] in the twentieth century.<ref name=":2" /> Carrington's views situated motherhood as a key experience to being a woman. Carrington stated, "We, women, are animals conditioned by maternity.... For female animals love-making, which is followed by the great drama of the birth of a new animal, pushes us into the depths of the biological cave." While this may seem to differ from certain modern feminist perspectives, the cave, of which Carrington offers many versions, is the setting for a symbolic coming to life, not an actual birth-giving ("and this can mean aquatic or maternal, this can be double, in my opinion"; mère and mer, following Simone de Beauvoir).<ref>{{Cite journal|year=1977|title=Obliques|journal=La Femme Surrealiste|volume=14|pages=91}}</ref>

Carrington had an interest in animals, myth, and symbolism. This interest became stronger after she moved to Mexico and started a relationship with the émigré Spanish artist [[Remedios Varo]]. The two studied [[alchemy]], the [[kabbalah]], and the post-classic Mayan mystical writings, ''[[Popol Vuh]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/8539650/Leonora-Carrington.html|title=Leonora Carrington obituary|last=Carrington|work=The Telegraph|access-date=5 May 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aristocratsofthesoul.com/leonora-carrington-alchemical-paintings/|title=Leonora Carrington's Alchemical Paintings and the Sacred Domestic|last=Carrington|website=aristocratsofthesoul.com|language=en-US|access-date=5 May 2017}}</ref>

The first important exhibition of her work appeared in 1947 at the [[Pierre Matisse|Pierre Matisse Gallery]] in New York City. Carrington was invited to show her work in an international exhibition of Surrealism, where she was the only female English professional painter. She became a celebrity almost overnight. In Mexico, she authored and successfully published several books.<ref>''Leonora Carrington: The Mexican Years, 1943–1985'' (University of New Mexico Press, 1998)</ref>

[[File:Cervantino2015 20.jpg|thumbnail|left|Sculpture by Carrington on display near the [[University of Guanajuato]] during the 2015 [[Festival Internacional Cervantino]]]]
The first major exhibition of her work in the UK for twenty years took place at [[Chichester]]'s [[Pallant House Gallery]], West Sussex, from 17 June to 12 September 2010, and subsequently in [[Norwich]] at the [[Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts]], as part of a season of major international exhibitions called ''Surreal Friends'' that celebrated the role of women in the Surrealist movement. Her work was exhibited alongside pieces by her close friends, the Spanish painter Remedios Varo (1908–1963) and the Hungarian photographer [[Kati Horna]] (1912–2000).<ref>[[Joanna Moorhead|Moorhead, J.]], ''The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington'' (London: [[Virago Press]], 2017), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ojAeDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 p. 131].</ref>{{rp|131}}

In 2013 Carrington was the subject of a major retrospective at the [[Irish Museum of Modern Art]], Dublin. Titled ''The Celtic Surrealist'', it was curated by Sean Kissane and examined Carrington's Irish background to illuminate many cultural, political and mythological themes present in her work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Leonora Carrington: The Celtic Surrealist|url=https://www.imma.ie/en/page_236722.htm|website=Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref>

Carrington's art often depicts horses, as in her ''[[Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)]]'' and the painting ''The Horses of Lord Candlestick''.<ref name="aberth"/> Her fascination with drawing horses began in her childhood.<ref name="aberth"/> Horses also appear in her writings. In her first published short story, "The House of Fear", Carrington portrays a horse in the role of a psychic guide to a young heroine.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chadwick|first=Whitney|title=Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness|journal=Woman's Art Journal|year=1986|volume=7|issue=1|page=38|jstor=1358235|doi=10.2307/1358235}}</ref> In 1935, Carrington's first essay, "Jezzamathatics or Introduction to the Wonderful Process of Painting", was published before her story "The Seventh Horse."<ref name="aberth">{{cite book|last=Aberth|first=Susan|title=Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art.|year=2010|publisher=Lund Humphries|pages=11, 20–43, 149}}</ref> Carrington often used codes of words to dictate interpretation in her artwork. "Candlestick" is a code that she commonly used to represent her family, and the word "lord" for her father.<ref name="aberth"/>

Carrington contributed to the 1973 Mexican horror film ''[[The Mansion of Madness]]'' directed by [[Juan López Moctezuma]], loosely based on the [[Edgar Allan Poe]] short story ''[[The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether]]''. She supervised the artistic design for the sets and costumes, with one of her sons, Gabriel Weisz. The repeated appearance of a white horse, Carrington's alter ego, and the elaborate surreal feasts and costumes show her influence and vision.

In 2005 [[Christie's]] auctioned Carrington's ''Juggler (El Juglar''),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5077506/?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5077506&sid=921fbc2d-9153-4612-8cd0-1ec6c973b8fe|title=Leonora Carrington (English/Mexican b. 1917)|website=www.christies.com}}</ref> and the realised price was USD $713,000, setting a new record for the highest price paid at auction for a living surrealist painter. Carrington painted portraits of the telenovela actor [[Enrique Álvarez Félix]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-leonora-carrington-portrait-of-enrique-alvarez-felix-4942422/|title=Leonora Carrington (English B. 1917)|website=www.christies.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-leonora-carrington-portrait-of-enrique-alvarez-felix-4942679/|title=Leonora Carrington (English B. 1917)|website=www.christies.com}}</ref> son of actress [[María Félix]], a friend of Carrington's first husband.

In 2015, Carrington was honoured through a [[Google Doodle]] commemorating her 98th birthday. The Doodle was based on her painting, ''[[How Doth the Little Crocodile (Carrington)|How Doth the Little Crocodile]]'', drawn in surrealist style.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Iyengar|first1=Rishi|title=New Google Doodle Honors Surrealist Painter Leonora Carrington|url=https://time.com/3771801/google-doodle-leonora-carrington-surrealist-painter/|access-date=6 April 2015|magazine=Time|date=6 April 2015}}</ref> The painting was inspired by a poem in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[How Doth the Little Crocodile|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', and this painting was eventually turned into ''Cocodrilo'' located on Paseo de la Reforma.<ref>{{cite news|title=Leonora Carrington: Surrealist painter's birthday honoured with a Google doodle|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/leonora-carringtons-98th-birthday-what-is-that-strange-boat-doing-on-the-google-doodle-10157635.html|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=10 April 2015}}</ref>

==Legacy and influence==
{{See also|Casa Museo Leonora Carrington|Museo Leonora Carrington}}
Carrington is credited with feminising surrealism. Her paintings and writing brought a woman's perspective to what had otherwise been a largely male-dominated artistic movement. Carrington demonstrated that women should be seen as artists in their own right and not to be used as muses by male artists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Solomon |first=Tessa |date=2021-04-07 |title=How Leonora Carrington's Surrealist Art Imaginatively Reclaimed Female Perspectives |url=https://www.artnews.com/feature/how-leonora-carringtons-surrealist-art-imaginatively-reclaimed-female-perspectives-1234588795/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Emre |first=Merve |date=2020-12-16 |title=How Leonora Carrington Feminized Surrealism |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/28/how-leonora-carrington-feminized-surrealism |access-date=2023-02-28 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2022, the [[Venice Biennale]] 59th International Art Exhibition was titled ''The Milk of Dreams''. This name is borrowed from a book by Carrington, in which, the Italian curator [[Cecilia Alemani]] says, she "describes a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination, and where everyone can change, be transformed, become something and someone else."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-06-09 |title=The Milk of Dreams is the title of the 59th International Art Exhibition |url=https://biennialfoundation.org/2021/06/the-milk-of-dreams/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Biennial Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> In the same year, Carrington's short story ''The Debutante'' was adapted into an animated short film directed by Elizabeth Hobbs and starring [[Joanna David]] as the Debutante (Older) and the Mother, and [[Alexa Davies]] as the Hyaena.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hobbs|first=Elizabeth|date=April 19, 2024|title=''The Debutante''|url=https://vimeo.com/940848616|publisher=[[Vimeo]]}}</ref>

Carrington's life inspired ''Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington'', a children's nonfiction book written by Michelle Markell and illustrated by [[Amanda Hall]] and which tells the story of Carrington's life and art as she pursues her creative talents and breaks with 20th-century conventions about the ways in which an upper-class women and debutantes should behave.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington |url=https://www.amandahall-illustration.com/product/out-of-this-world-the-surreal-art-of-leonora-carrington/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Amanda Hall |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Carrington and her son were the subject of the experimental short film ''Leonora and Gabriel: An Instant''. The film was made by [[Lizet Benrey]] at Carrington's residence in Mexico City. Carrington discussed the art in her home and life as a surrealist. The film premiered in 2012 at the [[San Diego Latino Film Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Romani |first=Rebecca |date=2012-03-19 |title=Festival Interview: Lizet Benrey |url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2012/03/19/festival-interview-lizet-benrey |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=[[KPBS Public Media]] |language=en}}</ref>

In November 2023, a posthumous ceremony celebrating Carrington's works was held in the [[Senate of the Republic (Mexico)|Senate of the Republic]], the upper house of the Mexican Congress.<ref name="Mexican Senate" /> The sculpture ''El jaguar de la noche'' was donated by the Museo Leonora Carrington to be displayed in the Senate Building. Additionally, a temporary exhibit, titled "Un Viaje Sagrado", with 11 of her sculptures was held in the Senate Building.<ref name="Mexican Senate" />

In May 2024 her painting ''[[Les Distractions de Dagobert]]'' was sold for $28.5 million at [[Sotheby]]'s auction house in New York. At the time, this was a record amount paid for a work by a British-born female artist.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jacobs |first=Harrison |date=May 15, 2024 |title=New Record for Leonora Carrington as Surrealist Painting Sells for $28.5 M. at Sotheby's |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/leonora-carrington-sothebys-record-women-surrealists-1234707046/ |website= |location= |publisher=Sotheby's |access-date=March 15, 2025}}</ref>

==Exhibitions==
* 2026 Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal, [[Freud Museum]], London, 25 March - 10 August 2026, then Faro Santander from 8 September 2026.<ref name="Freud Museum2026">{{cite web |title=Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal |url=https://www.freud.org.uk/exhibitions/leonora-carrington-the-symptomatic-surreal/ |website=The Freud Museum |access-date=26 July 2026}}</ref>
* 2026: Leonora Carrington, [[Musée du Luxembourg]], Paris, France, 18 February 2026 - 19 July 2026<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leonora Carrington |url=http://museeduluxembourg.fr/en/agenda/evenement/leonora-carrington |access-date=2026-02-15 |website=museeduluxembourg.fr |language=en}}</ref>
* 2025: Leonora Carrington, [[Royal Palace of Milan|Palazzo Reale]], Milan, Italy, 20 September 2025 - 11 January 2026<ref>{{Cite web |title=LEONORA CARRINGTON - Palazzo Reale Milano - Comune di Milano |url=https://www.palazzorealemilano.it/-/-en-leonora-carrington |access-date=2025-12-02 |website=Palazzo Reale Milano |language=it-IT}}</ref>
* 2025: Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscape, [[The Box, Plymouth|The Box Plymouth]], Devon, UK, 24 May 2025 - 7 September 2025<ref>{{Cite web |title=Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes |url=https://www.theboxplymouth.com/events/exhibitions/forbidden-territories-100-years-of-surreal-landscapes |access-date=2025-09-28 |website=The Box Plymouth |language=en}}</ref>
* 2025: Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver, [[Katonah Museum of Art]], Katonah, NY, United States, 13 July 2025 - 5 October 2025<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver · Katonah Museum of Art |url=http://www.katonahmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibition/leonora-carrington-dream-weaver |access-date=2025-09-28 |website=www.katonahmuseum.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
* 2024: Leonora Carrington: Avatars & Alliances, [[Firstsite]], Colchester, England, 26 October 2024 - 9 March 2025<ref>{{cite web |title=Leonora Carrington: Avatars & Alliances |url=https://firstsite.uk/event/leonora-carrington-avatars-alliances/ |website=Firstsite Events |access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref>
* 2024: Leonora Carrington: Rebel Visionary, [[Newlands House Gallery]], Petworth, England, 12 July - 26 October 2024<ref>{{Cite web |title=Newlands House Gallery - Modern & Contemporary Art, Photography, Design {{!}} Newlands House |url=https://newlandshouse.gallery/wp |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=NewlandsHouse.Gallery|language=en-GB}}</ref>
* 2023: Leonora Carrington: Revelación, Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain, 11 February - 7 May 2023<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-17|title=Leonora Carrington. Revelación|url=https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/arte-y-cultura/exposiciones/historico/ano-2023/leonora-carrington/|website=Fundación MAPFRE}}</ref>
* 2022: Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity, [[Museum Barberini]], Potsdam, Germany, 22 October 2022 - 29 January 2023<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity - Exhibitions - Museum Barberini |url=https://www.museum-barberini.de/en/ausstellungen/1921/surrealism-and-magic-enchanted-modernity |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=www.museum-barberini.de |language=en}}</ref>
* 2022: Leonora Carrington: El Mundo Magico, [[Mixografia]], Los Angeles, California, United States, 9 July - 27 August 2022
* 2022: Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity, [[Peggy Guggenheim Collection]], Venice, Italy, 9 April - 26 September 2022<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity {{!}} Exhibition {{!}} Peggy Guggenheim Collection |url=https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/en/whats-on/exhibitions/surrealism-and-magic-enchanted-modernity/ |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=www.guggenheim-venice.it |language=en}}</ref>
* 2020: Fantastic Women, [[Louisiana Museum of Modern Art]], Humlebæk, Denmark, 25 July - 8 November 2020<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-17|title=Fantastic Women|url=https://louisiana.dk/en/exhibition/fantastic-women/}}</ref>
* 2019: Surrealism in Mexico&nbsp;– Exhibitions&nbsp;– Di Donna Galleries, New York City, United States, 25 April - 29 June 2019<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-17|title=Exhibitions&nbsp;— Di Donna Galleries|url=https://www.didonna.com/exhibitions|website=www.didonna.com}}</ref>
* 2019: The Story of the Last Egg, Wendi Norris Offsite Exhibition, New York City, United States, 23 May - 29 June 2019<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-17|title=Leonora Carrington&nbsp;— The Story of the Last Egg|url=https://www.gallerywendinorris.com/exhibitions-collection/leonora-carrington-the-story-of-the-last-egg|date=23 May 2019|website=Gallery Wendi Norris&nbsp;— San Francisco|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215200339/https://www.gallerywendinorris.com/exhibitions-collection/leonora-carrington-the-story-of-the-last-egg|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2018: The Leonora Carrington Museum opens in [[San Luis Potosí]], México
* 2018: Leonora Carrington. Cuentos Mágicos, Museo de Arte Moderno de la Ciudad de México, Mexico, April - September 2018<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mam.inba.gob.mx/leonora-carrington-cuentos-magicos|title=Exposición: Leonora Carrington. Cuentos Mágicos|website=Museo de Arte Moderno|access-date=2 October 2018|archive-date=23 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323113519/https://mam.inba.gob.mx/leonora-carrington-cuentos-magicos|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2017: Mad About Surrealism, [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Netherlands, Rotterdam<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Leonora-Carrington/E2BC7502DB9FCC4E/Biography|title=Leonora Carrington (British, 1917&nbsp;– 2011)|website=mutualart.com|language=en|access-date=11 March 2017}}</ref>
* 2017: Surrealist Women, Mayoral, Barcelona, Spain, Barcelona<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Monstruosismos, Museo de Arte Moderno de Ciudad de México, Mexico, Bosque de Chapultepec<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Surreal Encounters. Collecting the Marvellous, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Dalí, Ernst, Miró, Magritte ... : Surreal Encounters from the Collections Edward James, Roland Penrose<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Gabrielle Keiller, Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Artists and Lovers, Ordovas Gallery, Mayfair, London, England<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England<ref name=":1" />
* 2016: Leonora Carrington: The Last Tuesday Society & Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History. Hackney, London, England, September - December 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/listings/event/leonora-carrington-viktor-wynd-collection/#.V9_E9WR94y5|title=The Last Tuesday Society :: Leonora Carrington&nbsp;– The Viktor Wynd Collection|website=www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org|access-date=19 September 2016|archive-date=29 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229121000/http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/listings/event/leonora-carrington-viktor-wynd-collection/#.V9_E9WR94y5|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2015: Leonora Carrington: Tate Liverpool, England, 6 March - 31 May 2015<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Surrealism and Magic, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Kahlo, Rivera & Mexican Modern Art, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Mexico: Fantastic Identity. 20th Century Masterpieces from the FEMSA Collection, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Lorna Otero Project Album of Family, Miami, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Surrealism: The Conjured Life, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015: Fields of Dream: The Surrealist Landscape, Di Donna, New York City, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2014: Surrealism and Magic, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2014: Paper, Pencil & Ink: Prints & Other Works on Paper, Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2013: Max Ernst, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland<ref name=":1" />
* 2013–2014: Leonora Carrington: The Celtic Surrealist, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (solo)<ref name="artnet.com">{{cite web|title=Leonora Carrington (British, 1917–2011)|url=https://www.artnet.com/artists/leonora-carrington/biography|website=Artnet}}</ref>
* 2012: In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States, Los Angeles, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2012: County Museum of Art, La Brea Park, Los Angeles, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2011: Exultation: Sex, Death and Madness in Eight Surrealist Masterworks, Wendi Norris Gallery, New York City, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2011: The Colour of My Dreams The Surrealist Revolution in Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada<ref name=":1" />
* 2011: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly?, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2011: Night Scented Stock, Marianne Boesky Gallery, 118 East 64th Street, New York City, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2011: Leonora Carrington & [[Tilly Losch]], [[Viktor Wynd]] Fine Art Inc.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc.|url = http://viktorwyndfineart.co.uk/leonoracarrington.html|website = viktorwyndfineart.co.uk|access-date = 4 October 2015}}</ref>
* 2010: Surreal Friends, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, England<ref name=":1" /> and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England.
* 2010: Divine Comedy, Sotheby's New York, New York City, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2009: Latitudes: Latin American Masters from the Femsa Collection, The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2009: Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England<ref name=":1" />
* 2008: Arte Americas The Latin American Art Fair, Tresart, Coral Gables, USA<ref name=":1" />
* 2008: Works from the Natasha and Jacques Gelman Collection of Modern Mexican Art, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland, Dublin<ref name=":1" />
* 2008: Talismanic Lens, Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 2007: Surrealism: Dreams on Canvas, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York, USA<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 2003: Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and 20th Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
* 2001–2002: Surrealism: Desire Unbound, The Tate, London, England and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1999: Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self-Representation, [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], San Francisco, California, USA.
* 1999: Surrealism: Two Private Eyes/The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, USA<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1993: Regards des Femmes, Musée d'Art Moderne, Lieja, France
* 1993: Sujeto-Objeto, Museo Regional de Guanajuato, Guanajuato y Museo de Monterrey, Moneterrey, Mexico<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1991: Galería de Arte del Auropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)
* 1991: Serpentine Gallery, London, England (solo)
* 1991: Sainsbury Art Centre, Norwich, England (solo)
* 1991: Arnolfini, Bristol, England (solo)
* 1991: The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California, USA (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1990: Art Company, Leeds, England (solo)
* 1990: Brewster Gallery, New York City, USA (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1989: Museo Nacional de la Estampa, INBA, Mexico (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1987: Brewster Gallery, New York City, USA (solo)
* 1987: Art Space Mirage, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
* 1987: Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York City, USA (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1976: Leonora Carrington: A retrospective exhibition, Center for Inter-American Relations, New York City, USA<ref name="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000232852">{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000232852|title=Leonora Carrington: a retrospective exhibition: Center for Inter-American Relations, New York City, Nov. 26-Jan. 4, 1976: University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, Jan. 18-Feb. 29, 1976.|date=9 May 1975|publisher=The Center|via=HathiTrust}}</ref>
* 1976: Leonora Carrington : a retrospective exhibition, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA<ref name="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000232852"/>
* 1970: Impressionism to Surrealism, Worthing Art Gallery, Worthing, England<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1969: The Surrealists, Byron Gallery, New York City, USA
* 1969: Galerie Pierre, Paris, France (solo)
* 1969: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Sala Nacional, Mexico (solo)
* 1969: Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)
* 1969: Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1968: Artistas Británicos en México 1800/1968, Instituto Anglo-Mexicano de Cultura, Mexico City, Mexico<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1967: IX Bienal de Pintura, São Paulo, Brazil<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1966: Surrealism: A State of Mind, Universidad de California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
* 1966: Surrealismo y Arte Fantástico en México, Galeria Universitaria, Aristos, Mexico
* 1965: Galería Antonio Souza, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)
* 1965: Instituto Cultural Anglo-Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)
* 1965: Galería Clardecor, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1963: Pictures in the Edward James Collection, Worthing Art Gallery, Worthing, England<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1961: El Retrato Mexicano Contemporáneo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1959: Eros Galerie, Daniel Cordier, Paris, France<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1956: Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1943: ''[[Exhibition by 31 Women]]'', the [[Art of This Century gallery]], New York City, USA<ref name="MOMAbook">{{cite book|last1=Butler|first1=Cornelia H.|last2=Schwartz|first2=Alexandra|title=Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art|date=2010|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|location=New York|isbn=9780870707711|page=[https://archive.org/details/modernwomenwomen0000unse/page/45 45]|url=https://archive.org/details/modernwomenwomen0000unse/page/45}}</ref>
* 1943: 20th Century Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, USA<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1942: First Papers of Surrealism, Madison Avenue Gallery, New York City, USA
* 1942: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York City, USA (solo)<ref name="artnet.com"/>
* 1938: Esposition du Surréalisme, Galerie Robert, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
* 1938: Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Galerie Beaux-Arts, Paris, France<ref name="artnet.com"/>

==Books==
===Novels===
* ''[[The Hearing Trumpet]]'' ([[Routledge]], 1976;<ref name="The hearing trumpet">{{cite book|first=Leonora | last=Carrington | others=illustrated by Pablo Weisz|title=The Hearing Trumpet|year=1976|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=978-0-7100-8637-2}}</ref> Penguin Books, 2005, {{ISBN|9780141187990}}; New York Review Books, 2021)
* ''The Stone Door'' (New York: [[St. Martin's Press]], 1977; New York Review Books, 2024)<ref name="The stone door">{{cite book|last=Carrington|first=Leonora|title=The stone door|year=1977|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0312762100|url=https://archive.org/details/stonedoor00carr}}</ref>

===Short story collections===
* ''The Oval Lady: Surreal Stories'' ([[Capra Press]], 1975)<ref name="The oval lady">{{cite book | last=Carrington | first=Leonora | others=Illustrated by Pablo Weisz; Foreword by Gloria Orenstein. Five of the six stories were translated from the original Spanish. | translator=Rochelle Holt | title=The oval lady, other stories: six surreal stories | publisher=Capra Press | publication-place=Santa Barbara | date=1975 | isbn=978-0-88496-036-2 }}</ref>
* ''The Seventh Horse and Other Tales'' ([[E. P. Dutton|Dutton]], 1988)<ref name="The seventh horse">{{cite book| translator1=Kathrine Talbot | translator2=Anthony Kerrigan | last=Carrington | first=Leonora |title=The seventh horse, and other tales|year=1988|publisher=E.P. Dutton|location=New York|isbn=0525483845|edition=1st|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/seventhhorseot00carr}}</ref>
* ''The House of Fear'' (Trans. K. Talbot and M. Warner. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1988)<ref name="The house of fear">{{cite book| translator=Kathrine Talbot | last=Carrington | first=Leonora | others=Introduction by Marina Warner|title=The house of fear : notes from Down below|year=1988|publisher=E.P. Dutton|location=New York|isbn=0525246487|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/houseoffear00leon}}</ref>
*''The Debutante and Other Stories'' (Silver Press, 2017)
*''The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington'' ([[Dorothy, a publishing project]], 2017. Introduction by [[Kathryn Davis (writer)|Kathryn Davis]])<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-17|title=Leonora Carrington's The Complete Stories&nbsp;– Dorothy|url=https://dorothyproject.com/?book=the-complete-stories|website=dorothyproject.com}}</ref>

===Plays===
* ''Une chemise de nuit de flanelle'', Libr. Les Pas Perdus, 1951, translated by [[Yves Bonnefoy]], with a cover by [[Max Ernst]]
* ''Opus Siniestrus: Selected Plays'' (New York Review Books, 2026)<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Opus Siniestrus |url=https://www.nyrb.com/products/plays |access-date=December 6, 2025 |website=New York Review Books |language=en}}</ref>

===Memoirs===
* ''Down Below'' (VVV magazine, 1944; Black Swan Press, 1983; [[New York Review Books]], 2017)

===Miscellaneous===
* ''La Maison de la peur'', H. Parisot, 1938&nbsp;– with illustrations by [[Max Ernst]]
* ''El mundo mágico de los mayas'', Museo Nacional de Antropología, 1964&nbsp;– illustrated by Leonora Carrington
*''The Milk of Dreams'' (illustrated edition. New York: NYR Children's Collection, 2017)

==Artworks==
*''[[Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)]]'', 1936–1937, The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection
*''Green Tea'', 1942, [[Museum of Modern Art]]
*''The Horses of Lord Candlestick'', 1938 (private collection)
*''The Meal of Lord Candlestick'', 1938
*''[[Portrait of Max Ernst]]'', c. 1939, [[Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art]]<ref>[https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/164061 Portrait of Max Ernst, National Galleries of Scotland]</ref>
*''[[The Temptation of St. Anthony (Carrington)|The Temptation of St. Anthony]]'', 1945, Private collection
*''[[Les Distractions de Dagobert]]'', 1945. Considered most significant painting of her career. Sold for £22.5&nbsp;million in 2024.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Khomami |first=Nadia |date=16 May 2024 |title=Leonora Carrington painting auctioned for £22.5m in record for British-born female artists |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/may/16/leonora-carrington-painting-auctioned-for-225m-in-record-for-british-born-female-artists |access-date=16 May 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
*''[[The Kitchen Garden on the Eyot]]'', 1946, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/sfmoma-sold-a-rothko-for-50-million-this-is-what-they-bought-with-the-proceeds|title=SFMOMA sold a Rothko for $50 million, this is what they bought with the proceeds|date=26 June 2009|first=Charles|last=Desmarais|website=Datebook|language=en-US|access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref>
*''[[The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg)]]'', 1947 (private collection)
*''The Old Maids'', 1947, [[Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts|Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts University of East Anglia]]
*''And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur'', 1953, [[Museum of Modern Art]]
* ''The Bird Bath'', 1974
*''The Memory Tower'', 1995, [[The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History]], London
*''[[How Doth the Little Crocodile (Carrington)|How Doth the Little Crocodile]]'', 1998
*''Gatomaquia'', 2009, [[Museo Leonora Carrington]], Mexico

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Visual arts|Mexico|England}}
* [[Women Surrealists]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Moorhead, Joanna ''[https://www.joannamoorhead.org/books/the-surreal-life-of-leonora-carrington/ The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington]'' (Virago, 2017)
* Moorhead, Joanna [https://www.joannamoorhead.org/books/surreal-spaces/ ''Surreal Spaces''] (Thames and Hudson, 2023. Princeton University Press, 2023)
* [[Whitney Chadwick|Chadwick, Whitney]]. ''Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement'' (Thames and Hudson, New York, 1985)
* Sills, Leslie & Whitman. ''A. "Visions: stories of women artists'' (Morton Grove, Illinois, 1993)
* Aberth, Susan L. ''Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art'' (Ashgate/Lund Humphries 2010), {{ISBN|978-1-84822-056-0}}
* Conley, Katharine. ''Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism'' (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1996)
* Moorhead, Joanna. ''Another world'' (article about Carrington), ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' (24 April 2010)
* Van Raay, Stefan, Moorhead, Joanna and Arcq, Teresa. "Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna" (Lund Humphries in association with Pallant House Gallery, 2010)
* Chadwick, Whitney. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1358235 "Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness"], ''[[Woman's Art Journal]]'', Vol. 7, no. 1: (1986. Retrieved 21 February 2012), pg. 38
* Hertz, Erich. "Disruptive Testimonies: The Stakes of Surrealist Experience in Breton and Carrington." ''Symposium'' Vol. 64, no. 2: (2010). Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed 29 March 2012)
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/777352 Aberth, Susan. "Leonora Carrington: The Mexican years, 1943–1985". ''Art Journal'' Vol. 51, no. 3: (Autumn 1992; accessed 1 April 2012) pgs. 83–85]
* [[Elena Poniatowska]], ''Lilus Kikus and Other Stories ''(1954)
* [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]], ''The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Creator of el Topo'' (Park Street Press 2008), {{ISBN|9781283215367}}.
* Elena Poniatowska, ''Leonora'' (Seix Barral 2011), {{ISBN|978-6070706325}}.
* Tina Kinsella, "We're frightened", [https://tinakinsella.wordpress.com/gallery-talk-were-frightened-that-somebody-might-think-that-we-are-also-animals-which-we-are-leonora-carrington-and-the-matrixial-theory-of-bracha-l-ettinger/ On Leonora Carrington], Public Conference, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2013).
* Tina Kinsella, "An Exploration of Animality and Sexual Difference in the Artworks of Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Bracha L. Ettinger" [https://tinakinsella.wordpress.com/conference-paper-were-frightened-that-somebody-might-think-that-we-are-also-animals-which-we-are/ Animality and Sexual Difference], Public Conference, Dublin City University (March 2014).
* Tina Kinsalla, "Surrealism to Subrealism". [https://tinakinsella.wordpress.com/surrealism-to-subrealism/ Surrealism], Public Conference, Maynooth University, Ireland (10 October 2014).
* Sean Kissane, ''Leonora Carrington The Celtic Surrealist'' (DAP 2013), {{ISBN|9781938922206}}.
* Joanna Moorhead, ''The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington'' (Virago, 2017).
* Gloria Orenstein. "In Memory of the Most Magical Friend I Ever Had: Leonora Carrington", ''Femspec''; Vol. 17, Iss. 1, 2016.
* Nancy Deffebach. "Renaissance Science, Heresy, and Spirituality in the Art of Leonora Carrington". In "Arte y Ciencia: XXIV Coloquio Internacional de Historia del Arte." Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2002.
* {{cite magazine |author=Emre, Merve |author-link=Merve Emre |date=28 December 2020 |title=Extravagant creatures : Leonora Carrington's matriarchal Surrealism |department=The Critics. Books |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=96 |issue=42 |pages=83–86 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/28/how-leonora-carrington-feminized-surrealism|access-date=26 April 2021}} (Online version is titled "How Leonora Carrington Feminized Surrealism".)

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www.thegreatcat.org/the-cat-in-art-and-photos-2/cats-in-art-20th-century/leonora-carrington-1917-2011-british/ Leonora Carrington's Cats]
* [https://www.wikiart.org/en/leonora-carrington Leonora Carrington at Wikiart.org]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175449/http://disinfo.com/2014/10/leonora-carringtons-surrealist-paintings/ Leonora Carrington's Surrealist Paintings at disinfo.com]
* [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/leonora-carrington-les-distractions-de-dagobert-2718627 Leonora Carrington’s ''Les Distractions de Dagobert'', Decoded], at [[Artnet]], November 25, 2025. Copiously illustrated.
* [https://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/01/15/sem-dos.html Dos Surrealistas en México], 15 January 2006
* [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/jan/02/art "Writer Joanna Moorhead goes in search of her long-lost cousin"], ''The Guardian''
* Documents on [http://icaadocs.mfah.org/icaadocs/MYDOCUMENTS/SharedCollections/tabid/180/f/2070/language/en-US/Default.aspx Leonora Carrington] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141354/http://icaadocs.mfah.org/icaadocs/MYDOCUMENTS/SharedCollections/tabid/180/f/2070/language/en-US/Default.aspx |date=12 June 2018 }} in the ICAA Documents Project at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
* [https://www.theartstory.org/artist-carrington-leonora.htm Leonora Carrington biography- The Art History]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/05/the-surreal-life-of-leonora-carrington-joanna-moorhead-review The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington by Joanna Moorhead&nbsp;– review]
* [https://www.artsy.net/artist/leonora-carrington Biography and work by Leonora Carrington at Artsy.net]
* [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/492697 Self portrait of Leonora Carrington at Met Museum]
* [https://gallerywendinorris.com/artists/32-leonora-carrington/ Artwork of Leonora Carrington at Wendi Norris Gallery]
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiiyr-1qmrE Leonora and Gabriel: An Instant]'' at YouTube

{{Leonora Carrington|state=expanded}}
{{Members of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana}}
{{Surrealism}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Leonora}}
[[Category:Leonora Carrington| ]]
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Mexican novelists]]
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[[Category:20th-century Mexican women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century British women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century English women artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Mexican painters]]
[[Category:21st-century women painters]]
[[Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Mexico]]
[[Category:British surrealist artists]]
[[Category:British surrealist writers]]
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[[Category:English people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:English women painters]]
[[Category:Mexican people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Mexican surrealist writers]]
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[[Category:Mexican women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at New Hall School]]
[[Category:People from Clayton-le-Woods]]
[[Category:Weird fiction writers]]
[[Category:Women surrealist artists]]
[[Category:Writers from Lancashire]]
[[Category:Max Ernst]]
[[Category:20th-century Mexican women painters]]