Raised in a wealthy, well-connected family in England, the young Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) glommed onto stories her mother and grandmother told of Celtic folk tales about mythical beings in Ireland. Her imagination ran rampant as a child, and a rebellious spirit earned her expulsion from more than one convent school for antics like writing backwards and even trying to levitate.

Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’
Surreal Figures Step from Leonora Carrington’s Paintings into ‘Shape of Dreams’