Leonora Carrington (1917- present) is one of the major figures in the twentieth century Surrealist movement. Carrington, like other Surrealists, sought pictorial avenues to gain access to the unconscious, the irrational, and the instinctual. Carrington wove pieces of feminine self-awareness into fantastic narratives of magical beasts, impossible rooms, and incredible gardens. Her vocabulary included animal and plant imagery with many fantastic or metamorphosing hybrids. The rooms or landscapes were often perplexing and bizarre, in which the unusual creatures acted out strange rituals. Carrington was born in Lancashire, England in 1917 and was a spirited child growing up. After expulsion from several English schools she went to Florence to study art. Back in London, Carrington was impressed by seeing the First International Surrealist Exhibition in London and became friends with Max Ernst who was lecturing in London. Together they went to France and lived and worked together for the next three years. In 1940 Carrington fled to Spain to escape the Nazis. In 1942 she moved to Mexico where she has lived ever since.