Leonora Carrington

The Musée du Luxembourg presents "Leonora Carrington," the first major retrospective in France dedicated to this British-Mexican artist. The exhibition gathers 126 works—paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, and monumental pieces—spanning nearly five decades of creation. The journey highlights the uniqueness of a total creator, often described as a "Vitruvian Woman," whose art dialogues between human and animal, male and female, within a cosmos reinvented through mythology and esotericism. The scenography aims to make the continuity of her language perceptible. This is a rare opportunity to appreciate, together, iconic works and lesser-known pieces that illuminate the coherence of an extraordinary artistic path.

Born in 1917 in Clayton Green, Lancashire, Leonora Carrington grew up in an environment shaped by governesses and Catholic boarding schools; the Celtic heritage transmitted by her Irish mother infused from childhood an imagination filled with fantastic creatures. Sent to Florence during her adolescence, she discovered the masters of the Quattrocento at the Uffizi Gallery: the encounter with Renaissance painting shaped her understanding of mythological composition and symbolic language. From this period date works like Sisters of the Moon, Diana (1932), where a taste for fusing human silhouettes and ancient references is already apparent. These first studies and master copies laid the technical and narrative foundations that would span her entire career.

In 1937, meeting Max Ernst in London opened the doors of surrealism to Carrington: she left England, lived with him in southern France, and frequented Parisian surrealist circles. André Breton took interest in her writings and included her story The Debutante in the Anthology of Black Humor, recognition placing her work at the intersection of writing and image. During this period, her works show a deepening of esoteric and alchemical concerns: hybrid figures, metamorphoses, and personal symbols compose scenes that are both mysterious and distinctly inventive. It was a pivotal moment forging the visual poetics that would appear throughout her career.

Settled in Mexico from 1942, Leonora Carrington found in this new context decisive creative freedom. She befriended Remedios Varo and integrated into a local intelligentsia fostering meetings and cultural exchanges. The syncretism of pre-Columbian mythologies and the vitality of the Mexican artistic milieu expanded her repertoire: paintings were joined by tapestries, sculptures, and monumental frescoes. Works like The Good King Dagobert (Elk Horn), dated 1948, embody this maturity: a rich bestiary and borderless spaces where the artist composes an intimate cosmos, made of humor, mystery, and a singular figurative power.