Leonora Carrington (born April 6 1917 in Clayton Green, Lancashire, England - ) is a British-born Mexican novelist and surrealist painter. Educated by governesses, tutors and nuns, she was expelled from many schools for her rebellious behavior until her family sent her to Florence where she learned to paint. She returned to England and was presented to "society", but sneaked out to read Aldous Huxley instead. Clearly this rebel girl was ready for new ideas and experiences.

She saw her first Surrealist painting in a Left Bank gallery in 1927 and met Paul Eluard. Her first exhibition of her work appeared at a Bloomsbury Gallery in 1933. Carrington was invited to show work in an international exhibit in London in 1936 where she was the only female painter who was both English and a professional. She became a celebrity almost overnight.

After meeting Max Ernst at a party in London in 1937, the artists bonded and returned to Paris together where Ernst promptly separated from his wife. The new couple collaborated and supported each other's artistic development until the German's invaded their French village and took Ernst to a concentration camp in 1940. Devastated, Carrington fled to Spain with paralyzing anxiety and growing delusions culminating in a final breakdown at the British embassy in Madrid. Her parents intervened and had her institutionalized where she was given cardiazol, a powerful shock-enducing drug. When released into the care of a nurse who took her to Lisbon, Carrington escaped once again to arrange passage to New York through a Mexican diplomate whom she had met through Picasso. (In fact, she married the diplomat as part of the travel arrangements.)

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