Surrealist Leonora Carrington Dead at 94

British-born painter, writer, and sculptor Leonora Carrington has died at age 94, Mexico's National Arts Council confirmed today. Considered one of the last of the original surrealists, Carrington was known for her haunting, dreamlike works that often focused on strange ritual-like scenes with birds, cats, unicorn-like creatures, and other animals as onlookers or seeming participants. She died of old age, after being hospitalized, according to a friend.

Carrington was born in Lancashire, England, on April 6, 1917, but her last longtime home and inspiration was Mexico. She was also part of a famous wave of artistic and political emigres who arrived in Mexico in the 1930s and '40s—and in the male-dominated realm of surrealism, was a member of a rare trio of Mexico-based female surrealists along with Frida Kahlo and Remedios Varo. The artist is survived by two children. (More obituary stories.)