Spider 1967

This surreal ‘Spider’ was painted by Leonora Carrington and it invites you to imagine what it might have been like for her to conjure this creature into being. The spider sits against a luminous background of red, fading into earthy tones, its spindly legs reaching out. Up close, you can see there's an entire world built onto its back—miniature figures and symbols. It reminds me of when I painted a portrait of my cat and, halfway through, decided to turn it into a spaceship. Did Carrington feel that kind of freedom here? I can imagine she was thinking about the way that spiders spin their webs and how that might relate to making art. Carrington's work is so distinctive, but she was part of a wider conversation with other artists, like Remedios Varo, and they kept pushing painting into new, uncharted territories. It feels like a conversation between friends, almost.