Leonora Carrington
In conversation: Almine Rech and Dr. Mylène Ferrand
"With Carrington, you immediately understand that she's not a secondary figure. She's one of the great artists of the 20th century. What convinced me was both the extraordinary quality of the work and her complete independence."
— Almine Rech
For Leonora Carrington’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Almine Rech held a conversation with Dr. Mylène Ferrand, art historian and curator. Organized in collaboration with the Consejo Leonora Carrington and rossogranada, the exhibition is on view from September 8 to October 10, 2026 at Almine Rech, Paris.
Spanning the 20th century and its upheavals, from the rise of fascism to exile, Carrington nevertheless defies any strictly biographical interpretation. Neither muse, nor disciple, nor mere heir to Surrealism, she created a language that is profoundly free, unbound by aesthetic categories or assigned identities. Her world never seeks to represent reality: it displaces its very laws, opening pathways between the visible and the invisible, the human and the animal, nature and culture, dream and matter.
[…]
— Dr. Mylène Ferrand, art historian and curator
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Installation view of Leonora Carrington's solo exhibition, Almine Rech Paris, on view from September 8 to October 10, 2026
©️ 2026 Estate of Leonora Carrington / ADAGP, Paris - Courtesy of Almine Rech, Consejo Leonora Carrington and rossogranada - Photo: Nicolas Brasseur / ’The Lovers‘, 1987 - Loan from FAMM (Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins) / The Levett Collection ©️ ADAGP, Paris. -
Installation view of Leonora Carrington's solo exhibition, Almine Rech Paris, on view from September 8 to October 10, 2026
©️ 2026 Estate of Leonora Carrington / ADAGP, Paris - Courtesy of Almine Rech, Consejo Leonora Carrington and rossogranada - Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Leonora Carrington OBE (1917-2011) was a surrealist painter, sculptor and a novelist of British descent, who lived the majority of her life in Mexico. Credited with being a pioneer feminist artist of the Surrealist movement, Carrington’s work is centred around the supernatural, the occult, nature and oftentimes autobiographical references. Following her art studies in London, she relocated to France to be with Max Ernst. She got acquainted with the Surrealist circle and in the year 1937 she produced her first painting and the following year her first sculpture, both works depicting horses which was a favourite subject of hers.
