Leonora Carrington Exhibition at Musée du Luxembourg Explores Surrealist's Life and Work

A comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) has opened at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. Organized in collaboration with GrandPalaisRmn and MondoMostre, the presentation features 126 works and remains on view until July 19, 2026. The show aims to portray Carrington as a complete artist, tracing her intellectual and creative universe through both internal and external journeys across locations including her native Lancashire, Florence, Paris, southern France, Spain, New York, and finally Mexico, where she settled permanently. Curated by Tere Arcq, an art historian specializing in Mexican Surrealism and former curator at Mexico City's Museo de Arte Moderno, and Carlos Martín, an art historian and former curator at Madrid's Fundación Mapfre, the exhibition employs a curatorial approach that reimagines Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man as a 'Vitruvian Woman' model, positioning Carrington as an exemplar of innovation and harmony. French journalist Philippe Dagen noted in Le Monde that Carrington has experienced growing recognition over the past decade, particularly following the 2022 Venice Biennale, which took its title from her book of fairy tales, 'The Milk of Dreams.' Dagen observed that the exhibition is not a full retrospective, as it lacks several major paintings, such as 'L'Auberge du cheval d'aube. Autoportrait' (1937-38), but offers an engaging perspective that reveals the artist in a more human, less mythic light. The exhibition layout, designed by Véronique Dollfus, features fluid, airy spaces with slightly angled central walls to create visual continuity. Wall colors shift according to the palette of artworks, and each section includes introductory text and quotes from Carrington, such as: 'I didn't have time to be anyone's muse; I was too busy [...] learning to become an artist.' The presentation combines chronological and thematic sections, exploring six core themes related to metamorphosis, dream states, and ancestral dimensions, reflecting the artist's Celtic and post-Victorian origins, her discovery of classical art in Florence, her engagement with Surrealism in France, and her eventual transatlantic relocation. Key works on display include early pieces like the 'Sisters of the Moon' series (1932-33), created when Carrington was 15, as well as later paintings such as 'Window in Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche' (1938), 'Las tentaciones de San Antonio' (1945), 'The Elements' (1946), 'Le Bon Roi Dagobert (Elk Horn)' (1948), 'The Magus Zoroaster Meeting his Own Image in the Garden' (1960), and 'Dando de comer a una mesa' (1959), which appears on the exhibition catalog cover. The exhibition highlights Carrington's relationships, including her partnership with Max Ernst, her brief marriage to poet Renato Leduc, and her later marriage to photographer Chiki Weisz. It also addresses her psychological crisis following trauma in Spain during the Franco regime, her subsequent institutionalization, and her eventual emigration to Mexico, where she found a community including artists like Remedios Varo and poet Benjamin Péret. The show emphasizes Mexico as a significant center for Surrealism often overlooked in art historical narratives. Carrington's interest in mythology, occultism, and Jungian psychology is explored, alongside the transformative impact of motherhood on her work following the birth of her sons Gabriel and Pablo. The exhibition concludes with themes of alchemical transformation, positioning domestic spaces as sites of female empowerment through magic and witchcraft.