Sporting white jodhpurs and a wild mane of hair, Carrington is perched on the edge of a chair in this curious, dreamlike scene, with her hand outstretched toward the prancing hyena and her back to the tailless rocking horse flying behind her. The daughter of an English industrialist, Carrington spent her childhood on a country estate surrounded by animals and reading fairy tales and legends. She revisited these memories in her adulthood, creating paintings populated with real and imagined creatures. Here, the white horse, which Carrington used as her symbolic surrogate, gallops freely into the verdant landscape beyond the curtained window.
the artist (at the onset of World War II, left with Ernst); Max Ernst, New York (until at least 1942; taken to New York in 1941; for safekeeping, given on an unknown date after December 1942 to Matisse); Pierre Matisse, New York (until d. 1989); his widow, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, née von Spreti, New York (1989–d. 2001); Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation (2002; gift to MMA)
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 122; lent by Marx Ernst, New York).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," February 12–March 7, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Worcester, Mass. Worcester Art Museum. "Twentieth Century Portraits," March 21–April 18, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Twentieth Century Portraits," May 4–31, 1943, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Twentieth Century Portraits," June 14–July 12, 1943, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "Twentieth Century Portraits," October 1–29, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Flint, Mich. Flint Institute of Arts. "Twentieth Century Portraits," November 20–December 18, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Utica, N.Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "Twentieth Century Portraits," January 1–29, 1944, unnumbered cat.
West Palm Beach, Fla. Norton Gallery and School of Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," February 11–March 10, 1944, unnumbered cat.
Winter Park, Fla. Rollins College. "Twentieth Century Portraits," March 18–April 8, 1944, unnumbered cat.
New York. Center for Inter-American Relations. "Leonora Carrington: A Retrospective Exhibition," November 26, 1975–January 4, 1976, no. 1.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin. "Leonora Carrington: A Retrospective Exhibition," January 18–February 29, 1976, no. 1.
London. Hayward Gallery. "Dada and Surrealism Reviewed," January 11–March 27, 1978, no. 12.30.
Milan. Palazzo Reale. "L'altra metà dell'Avanguardia, 1910–1940: Pittrici e scultrici nei movimenti delle avanguardie storiche," February 14–May 18, 1980, unnumbered cat. (p. 274).
Rome. Palazzo delle Esposizioni. "L'altra metà dell'Avanguardia, 1910–1940: Pittrici e scultrici nei movimenti delle avanguardie storiche," July 3–August 8, 1980, unnumbered cat.
Kulturhuset, Stockholm. "Andra Hälften av Avantgardet 1910–1940," February 14–May 3, 1981, unnum. brochure.
New York. Jeffrey Hoffeld and Company. "Women Surrealists: A Selection of Works from 1930 to 1950," April 30–June 8, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Women's Caucus for Art, New York City Chapter, Great Hall Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art. "Six Women of Distinction: WCA Honor Awards 1986," February 12–March 3, 1986, not in catalogue.
New York. Baruch College Gallery. "Women Artists of the Surrealist Movement, 1924–1947," October 3–November 7, 1986, unnum. brochure.
Stonybrook. SUNY Fine Arts Center Gallery. "Women Artists of the Surrealist Movement, 1924–1947," November 18,1986–January 10, 1987, unnum. brochure.
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. "La femme et le Surréalisme," November 21, 1987–February 28, 1988, no. 11.
New York. National Academy of Design. "La Mujer en Mexico/Women in Mexico," September 27–December 2, 1990, no. 43.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "La Mujer en Mexico/Women in Mexico," Winter 1991, no. 43.
Museo de Monterrey. "La Mujer en Mexico/Women in Mexico," Spring 1991, no. 43.
London. Serpentine Gallery. "Leonora Carrington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures, 1940–1990," December 11, 1991–January 22, 1992, no. 1.
Preston, U. K. Harris Museum. "Leonora Carrington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures, 1940–1990," closed March 31, 1992, no. 1.
Bristol. Arnolfini. "Leonora Carrington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures, 1940–1990," April 11–May 10, 1992, no. 1.
Tokyo Station Gallery. "Leonora Carrington," October 14–November 12, 1997, no. 1.
Umeda–Osaka. Daimaru Museum. "Leonora Carrington," February 11–23, 1998, no. 1.
Hida Takayama Museum of Art. "Leonora Carrington," February 28–March 29, 1998, no. 1.
Tsu. Mie Prefectural Art Museum. "Leonora Carrington," April 4–May 5, 1998, no. 1.
Cambridge. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, List Visual Arts Center. "Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self–Representation," April 9–June 28, 1998, unnumbered cat. (pl.3).
Miami Art Museum. "Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self–Representation," September 18–November 29, 1998, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self–Representation," January 8–April 20, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Mona Bismarck Foundation. "Peinture moderne au Mexique: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," March 10–May 8, 1999, no. 136.
Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires. "Arte Mexicano: Coleccion Jacques y Natasha Gelman," May 27–August 1, 1999, no. 34.
Canberra. National Gallery of Australia. "Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," July 13–October 28, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 34).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Surrealism: Desire Unbound," February 6–May 12, 2002, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, Part 2," September 28, 2004–January 30, 2005, no catalogue.
Paris. Mona Bismarck Foundation. "Pierre Matisse, passeur passionné: Un marchand d'art et ses artistes," October 20, 2005–January 14, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 96).
Museo Picasso Málaga. "La Colección Pierre y Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York," March 26–June 24, 2007, no. 3.
Manchester Art Gallery. "Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism," September 26, 2009–January 10, 2010, no. 30.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States," January 29–May 6, 2012, unnumbered cat. (fig. 78; as "Inn of the Dawn Horse [Self-Portrait]").
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. "In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States," June 7–September 3, 2012, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "Leonora Carrington: Magical Tales," April 21–September 23, 2018, no. 46 (as "Inn of the Dawn Horse [Self-Portrait])".
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo," February 13–July 5, 2020, unnumbered cat. (p. 255; as "Autoportrait, à l'auberge du Cheval d'Aube (Self-portrait, at the Auberge du Cheval d'Aube)").
Humlebæk. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo," July 25–November 8, 2020, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Surrealism Beyond Borders," October 11, 2021–January 30, 2022, unnumbered cat. (fig. 202).
Nicolas Calas. View 1 "Interview with André Breton." (October–November 1941), p. 1, ill.
Jane Perlez. "Woman in the News: Leonora Carrington; Surrealism Lives." New York Post (December 6, 1975), p. 19.
Lea Vergine. L'autre moitié de l'avant–garde, 1910–1940: Femmes peintres et femmes sculpteurs dans les mouvements d'avant–garde historiques. Paris, 1982, p. 305, ill.
José Pierre. L'univers surréaliste. Paris, 1983, p. 199, ill.
Whitney Chadwick. Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement. Boston, 1985, pp. 77–79, pl. 68.
Whitney Chadwick. "The Muse as Artist: Women in the Surrealist Movement." Art in America 73 (July 1985), pp. 123–124, ill.
Whitney Chadwick. "Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness." Woman's Art Journal 7 (Spring–Summer 1986), pp. 37–38, fig. 1.
Véronique Prat. "Elles ne parlaient pas? Non, mais elles peignaient." Le Figaro Magazine (November 15, 1986), pp. 138–39, ill.
Leonora Carrington. The House of Fear: Notes from Down Below. New York, 1988, pp. 2–3, ill. (on dust jacket).
Janice Helland. "Surrealism and Esoteric Feminism in the Paintings of Leonora Carrington." RACAR 16, no. 1 (1989), pp. 54–56, 59, 102, fig. 98.
Whitney Chadwick. Women, Art, and Society. London, 1990, p. 280, fig. 167.
Hasegawa Yuko. "Leonora Carrington: The Inner World Full of Mystery and Inspiration Painted by a Surrealist Muse." Gap Deux (June 6, 1990), pp. 172–73.
Mary Ann Caws, Gwen Raaberg, Rudolf E. Kuenzli, ed. Surrealism and Women. London, 1991, pp. 163–64, fig. 1.
Bernard Denvir. "Serpentine Gallery, London, Travelling Exhibit." Artist (London) 106 (December 1991), p. 17, ill.
Mary Rose Beaumont. "Leonora Carrington." Arts Review (London) 44 (April 1992), p. 130, ill.
Roger Cardinal. "Preston, Harris Museum: Leonora Carrington." Burlington Magazine 134 (1992), p. 200.
Whitney Chadwick. Leonora Carrington: La realidad de la imaginación. México City, 1994, pl. 1.
Renée Riese Hubert. Magnifying Mirrors: Women, Surrealism, and Partnership. Lincoln, Neb., 1994, pp. 120, 122–23, no. 32, ill. p. 121.
Luis Carlos Emerich and Lourdes Andrade. Leonora Carrington: Una restrospectiva. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey. Monterrey , Mexico, 1994, p. 36, ill.
Martica Sawin. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, Mass., 1995, pp. 130, 189, 281, ill. p. 131 (seen hanging in a tree).
Whitney Chadwick. Women, Art, and Society. 2nd ed. London, 1996, p. 288, fig. 168.
Matthew Gale. Dada and Surrealism. London, 1997, p. 347, no. 190, ill.
Frances Borzello. Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits. New York, 1998, pp. 154–55, ill.
Lourdes Andrade. Leonora Carrington, historia en dos tiempos. Mexico City, 1998, unpaginated, ill.
Mary Ann Caws, ed. Surrealist Painters and Poets: An Anthology. Cambridge, Mass., 2001, p. 147.
Gérard Durozoi. History of the Surrealist Movement. (1st ed., Paris, 1997). Chicago, 2002, p. 328, fig. 4.
Silvana Schmid. Loplops Geheimnis: Max Ernst und Leonora Carrington in Südfrankreich. Frankfurt am Main, 2003, pp. 120,126, ill. p. 122.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), pp. 20–21, ill.
Susan L. Aberth. Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art. Burlington, 2004, pp. 22, 30–35, 46, fig. 18.
Christopher Goodwin. "Bohemian Rhapsody." Times (London) (June 21, 2004), p. 19, ill.
Ara H. Merjian and Gabriel Weisz Carrington. The Talismanic Lens: Leonora Carrington. Exh. cat., Frey Norris Gallery Annex. San Francisco, 2008, p. 10.
Sabine Rewald. The American Matisse: The Dealer, His Artists, His Collection. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection. New York, 2009, pp. 38–40, 150–51, ill. (color).
Patricia Allmer inAngels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism. Ed. Patricia Allmer. Exh. cat., Manchester Art Gallery. Munich, 2009, pp. 21, 230, no. 30, ill. p. 115 (color).
Georgiana M. M. Colvile inAngels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism. Ed. Patricia Allmer. Exh. cat., Manchester Art Gallery. Munich, 2009, p. 65, fig. 38 (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 413, ill. (color).
Ilene Susan Fort inIn Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Ed. Ilene Susan Fort, Tere Arcq, and Terri Geis. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2012, p. 51.
Tere Arcq inIn Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Ed. Ilene Susan Fort, Tere Arcq, and Terri Geis. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2012, pp. 83–84, fig. 78 (color).
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 527, ill. (color), colorpl. 456.
Tere Arcq and Stefan van Raay. Leonora Carrington: Cuentos Mágicos. Mexico City, 2018, pp. 12–14, ill. (color).
Stefan van Raay and Joanna Moorhead inLeonora Carrington: Magical Tales. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City, 2018, pp. 37, 469, no. 46, ill. pp. 38–39 (color).
Whitney Chadwick inLeonora Carrington: Magical Tales. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City, 2018, p. 66.
Susan L. Aberth inLeonora Carrington: Magical Tales. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City, 2018, pp. 249–50.
Marina Warner inLeonora Carrington: Magical Tales. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City, 2018, pp. 298–99.
Arturo López Rodríguez inLeonora Carrington: Magical Tales. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City, 2018, p. 387.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 413, ill. (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 61 (color).
Ingrid Pfeiffer inFantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo. Ed. Ingrid Pfeiffer. Exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Frankfurt, 2020, pp. 34–35.
Tere Arcq inFantastic Women: Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo. Ed. Ingrid Pfeiffer. Exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Frankfurt, 2020, pp. 266, 407, ill. pp. 248, 255 (color, detail and overall).
Stephanie D'Alessandro in "What's in a Face?" Perspectives. Online resource [metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles], July 22, 2021, ill. (color).
Stephanie D'Alessandro and Matthew Gale in Stephanie D'Alessandro and Matthew Gale. Surrealism Beyond Borders. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2021, pp. 16, 31, 329, fig. 202 (color).
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can now connect to the most up-to-date data and images for more than 470,000 artworks in The Met collection. As part of The Met’s Open Access program, the data is available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
