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 (dated 1937; lent by Pierre Matisse).
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 (lent by Pierre Matisse).
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; dated 1936–37, lent by Pierre Matisse, New York).
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 1910–40," February 14–May 3, 1981, unnumbered cat. (p. 278; dated 1936–37, lent by Pierre Matisse, New York).
New York. Jeffrey Hoffeld and Company. "Women Surrealists: A Selection of Works from 1930 to 1950," April 30–June 8, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. Great Hall Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art. "Women's Caucus for Art Honor Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Visual Arts: 7th Annual Exhibition," February 11–26, 1986, not in catalogue.
New York. Baruch College Gallery. "Women Artists of the Surrealist Movement," October 3–November 7, 1986, unnum. brochure (lent by Pierre Matisse).
Fine Arts Center Gallery, SUNY Stony Brook. "Women Artists of the Surrealist Movement," November 18,1986–January 10, 1987, unnum. brochure.
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. "La Femme et le Surréalisme," November 21, 1987–February 28, 1988, unnumbered cat. (fig. 11; as "Autoportrait [A l'Auberge du cheval d'Aube]," 1936–37, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Matisse, New York).
New York. National Academy of Design. "La Mujer en Mexico/Women in Mexico," September 27–December 2, 1990, no. 43 (lent by a private collection, New York).
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 26, 1992, no. 1 (as "The Inn of the Dawn Horse [Self Portrait]," lent by a private collection).
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 (as "The Inn of the Dawn Horse [Self-Portrait]," lent by a private collection).
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.
Cambridge, Mass. MIT List Center. "Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self–Representation," April 9–June 28, 1998, unnumbered cat. (pl. 3; lent by a private collection).
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, unnumbered cat. (pp. 136–37; as "Autoportrait à l'auberge du cheval d'aube," 1936–37, lent by Madame Pierre Matisse).
Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires. "Arte Mexicano: Coleccion Jacques y Natasha Gelman," May 27–August 1, 1999, no. 34 (as "Autoportrait à l'auberge du cheval d'aube," 1936–37).
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; as "Autoportrait à l'Auberge du Cheval de l'Aube [Self-portrait at the Dawn Horse Inn," 1936–37, lent by a private collection).
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. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 5; dated 1938).
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; dated 1938).
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, ed. "Interview with André Breton." View 1 (October–November 1941), ill. p. 1, as "Home of the Neglected Dawn Horse," 1940.
Monroe Wheeler. 20th Century Portraits. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1942, pp. 23, 134, ill. p. 122, dates it 1940.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Artist and His Sitter: Museum of Modern Art Opens Exhibition of Portraiture in This Century." New York Times (December 13, 1942), p. X9.
Jane Perlez. "Woman in the News: Leonora Carrington; Surrealism Lives." New York Post (December 6, 1975), p. 19.
José Pierre. L'Univers surréaliste. Paris, 1983, ill. p. 199 (color), calls it "Autoportrait (A l'auberge du cheval d'Aube)".
Whitney Chadwick. Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement. Boston, 1985, pp. 78–79, 195, 248, pl. 68, dates it about 1938.
Whitney Chadwick. "The Muse as Artist: Women in the Surrealist Movement." Art in America 73 (July 1985), pp. 123–24, ill. (color), dates it about 1938.
Maurice Poirier. "New York Reviews. Women Surrealists: Jeffrey Hoffeld." Art News 84 (October 1985), p. 133, dates it 1937.
Whitney Chadwick. "Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness." Woman's Art Journal 7 (Spring–Summer 1986), pp. 37–38, 42 n. 3, fig. 1, dates it about 1938.
Véronique Prat. "Elles ne parlaient pas? Non, mais elles peignaient." Le Figaro Magazine (November 15, 1986), ill. pp. 138–39 (detail).
Whitney Chadwick. Women Artists of the Surrealist Movement. Exh. brochure, Baruch College Gallery. New York, 1986, unpaginated, dates it about 1937 in the checklist and about 1938 in the text.
Stefany Blyn. "'Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement' by Whitney Chadwick." Women Artists News 11 (June 1986), p. 6.
Marina Warner in Leonora Carrington. The House of Fear: Notes from Down Below. New York, 1988, p. 2, ill. front cover (color), calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse".
Janice Helland. "Surrealism and Esoteric Feminism in the Paintings of Leonora Carrington." RACAR 16, no. 1 (1989), pp. 54–56, 59, fig. 98, dates it 1937.
Edward J. Sullivan inLa Mujer en Mexico/Women in Mexico. Exh. cat., National Academy of Design, New York. Mexico City, 1990, pp. LXIX, 99, no. 43, ill. p. 39 (color) and front cover (color detail), dates it 1936–37.
Angela Carter. "Anima Magic." Vogue 155 (December 1991), pp. 26–27, ill. (color, image reversed), calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse" and dates it 1938.
Georgiana M. M. Colvile. "Beauty and/Is the Beast: Animal Symbology in the Work of Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Leonor Fini." Surrealism and Women. Ed. Mary Ann Caws, Rudolf E. Kuenzli, and Gwen Raaberg. Cambridge, Mass., 1991, pp. 163–64, fig. 1, dates it 1937.
Marina Warner inLeonora Carrington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures 1940–1990. Ed. Andrea Schlieker. Exh. cat., Serpentine Gallery. London, 1991, pp. 14, 109, no. 1, ill. p. 50 (color), dates it 1936–37.
Mary Rose Beaumont. "Leonora Carrington." Arts Review (London) 44 (April 1992), p. 130, ill.
Roger Cardinal. "Preston, Harris Museum: Leonora Carrington." Burlington Magazine 134 (March 1992), p. 200.
Whitney Chadwick. Leonora Carrington: La realidad de la imaginación. Mexico City, 1994, pp. 10, 161, colorpl. 1, calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Hourse (Autoretrato)" and dates it 1936–37.
Renée Riese Hubert. Magnifying Mirrors: Women, Surrealism, and Partnership. Lincoln, Neb., 1994, pp. 120, 122, pl. 32, notes that its full title is "Autoportrait à l'Auberge du cheval d'aube (Self-Portrait at the Horse of Dawn Inn)" and dates it 1936–37.
Martica Sawin. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, Mass., 1995, pp. 130, 189, 281, ill. p. 131 (hanging in a tree with works by Max Ernst, the Villa Air Bel, Marseilles "on the occasion of a Sunday sale and auction"), dates it 1938.
Clare Kunny. "Leonora Carrington's Mexican Vision." Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 22, no. 2 (1996), pp. 167–68, fig. 2, calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse" and dates it about 1936–37.
Annette Shandler Levitt. "The Bestial Fictions of Leonora Carrington." Journal of Modern Literature 20 (Summer 1996), pp. 65–67, calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse".
Katharine Conley. Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism. Lincoln, Neb., 1996, pp. 51–52, 74, fig. 8, calls it "Self-Portrait: The Inn of the Dawn Horse" and dates it 1937.
Matthew Gale. Dada and Surrealism. London, 1997, p. 347, no. 190, ill. (color), calls it "Self-Portrait (The Inn of the Dawn Horse)," dates it 1937, and locates it in the collection of the artist.
Masayo Nonaka inLeonora Carrington. Exh. cat., Tokyo Station Gallery. Tokyo, 1997, pp. 41, 130–31, no. 1, ill. (color), dates it about 1938.
Lourdes Andrade. Leonora Carrington, historia en dos tiempos. Mexico City, 1998, pp. 9–10, ill. n.p. (color), calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse (Autorretrato)" and dates it 1936–37.
Helaine Posner inMirror Images: Women, Surrealism, and Self-Representation. Ed. Whitney Chadwick. Exh. cat., MIT List Center. Cambridge, Mass., 1998, p. 158, colorpl. 3, dates it 1938 in the text and about 1938 in the caption.
Holland Cotter. "Psychic Healing in the Uncanny." New York Times (April 17, 1998), p. E44, ill.
Robert Belton. "'Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism' by Katharine Conley." Woman's Art Journal 19 (Autumn 1998–Winter 1999), p. 41.
Annette Shandler Levitt. The Genres and Genders of Surrealism. New York, 1999, pp. 69–73, 75, 87, 147 n. 8, ill.
Silvana Schmid. Loplops Geheimnis: Max Ernst und Leonora Carrington in Südfrankreich. Frankfurt am Main, 2003, pp. 120, 126, ill. p. 122, calls it "A l'Auberge du Cheval d'Aube (Selbstporträt)"; dates it 1937 on p. 120 and 1938 on p. 126.
Carol Vogel. "Met Gets Gift of 100 Works Collected by Son of Matisse." New York Times (February 27, 2003), pp. A1, B9.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), pp. 20–21, ill. (color), dates it 1938.
Holland Cotter. "Matisse the Son, Illuminating His Father's Legacy." New York Times (2004), p. E28, ill. p. E25 (detail).
Susan L. Aberth. Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art. Aldershot, Hampshire, England, 2004, pp. 22, 29–35, 46, figs. 18 (color), 27 (at the Villa Air Bel, 1941), calls it "Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)"; states that it was begun in London in 1937 and finished in Paris in 1938.
Pierre Schneider and Jonathan Pascoe Pratt. La Colección Pierre y Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York/ The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Ed. Bernardo Lanaido-Romero. Exh. cat., Museo Picasso Málaga. Málaga, 2007, pp. 155–56, no. 3, ill. pp. 98 (color), 155.
Whitney Chadwick. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. (1st ed., 1990). London, 2007, pp. 314, 517, fig. 168 (color), dates it 1938; locates it still in the collection of the Pierre Matisse Gallery.
Ara H. Merjian inThe Talismanic Lens: Leonora Carrington. Exh. cat., Frey Norris Gallery Annex. San Francisco, 2007, p. 10, calls it "Inn of the Dawn Horse" and dates it 1938.
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), notes that the artist dated this work around 1937–38.
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).
James Boaden. "Women Surrealists. Manchester." Burlington Magazine 151 (December 2009), p. 857, dates it 1936–37.
William Grimes. "Leonora Carrington Is Dead at 94; Artist and Author of Surrealist Work." New York Times (May 27, 2011), p. A25, ill., calls it "The Inn of the Dawn Horse (Self-Portrait)" and dates it 1939.
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, with 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, with Terri Geis. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2012, pp. 83–84, fig. 78 (color).
Kris Wilton. "Leonora Carrington." Art and Auction 35 (June 2012), p. 120.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 527, ill. (color), colorpl. 456.
Frances Borzello. Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits. Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1998). New York, 2016, p. 177, ill. p. 179 (color), calls it "Self-portrait: 'A L'Auberge du Cheval d'Aube'" and dates it about 1936–37.
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).
Catriona McAra. The Medium of Leonora Carrington: A Feminist Haunting in the Contemporary Arts. Manchester, 2022, p. 47 n. 44, pp. 62–63, 99, 122, 128, 143, 149, calls it "Inn of the Dawn Horse" and dates it 1937.
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